Riots erupt in East London, Eastern Cape

Riots erupted in East London, Eastern Cape after strike meetings were banned by the government. 17 protesters were killed, as well as an Irish Nun who was stoned to death by the mob. The riots happened five months after the start of the Defiance Campaign, 26 June 1952 when the first volunteers including Nelson Mandela, Yusuf Dadoo and Walter Sisulu defied Apartheid laws in Johannesburg and other major city centres. The period 1950 -1952 was marked by a commitment to militant African nationalism, mass action, and tactics of boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience.