It was on the steps of this building that the students were standing when the police charged with batons about 4 pm. About 100 students immediately fled through the north transept into the cathedral.

The Latin inscription on these doors reads: 'I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.'

The doors were closed behind them. Within all was illuminated only by the late afternoon sun filtering through the cathedral's vast stained-glass windows hibh overhead. There were echoes of shouts, and the screams of those still being attacked outside.

Felt Safe

Students felt safe. A cathedral was inviolate. The police would not continue their beatings and baton assaults here. They thought themselves also safe from those they called 'Muller's muggers' — the policemen dressed in garb apparently designed to make them look like students.

There was a scuffle at a side door, from which steps lead down to a parking bay marked: 'Reserved for the Archibishop.' Police charged up these steps and burst into the cathedral, dashing past the granite font and spreading into the transept crossing. The assaults inside the cathedral began.

Students fled A few followed Catherine King. 20-year-old daughter of the Dean of Cape Town, whose intimative knowledge of the building led her to the concealed seclusion of the organ loft high above the choir, where they remained [unclear: undecoted].

Police Swore

Others ran into the nave, pursued by shouting policemen. Rows of chairs collapsed, the police swore, but the students continued to run, dodging behind pillars.

Some fled up the chancel steps, through the choir towards the High Altar and the Sanctuary, in the belief that they would be safe here, beyond the giant Archbishops throne, which was once part of the organ screen in England's historic 'Westminster Abbey.

At least two policeman followed them up here. One of the students was punched and beaten as he scrambled over the choir stalls, and he was followed up to the Sanctuary as he made for the High Altar.

He was dragged by the hair as he called out 'I haven't done anything.' He was dragged over the small stone which hears nothing but the name office and dates of birth and death of Archlbishop Geoffrey Clayton, whose ashes were inerred here in accordance with his wishes to be buried in a place where there was no colour bar.

This student was pushed out to the side door to the police on the steps outside, where he was again beaten. Other policemen near the font were dragging students out to the door, and batons were used on them.

One assault took place in the nave of the cathedral.

It was at this point that Canon R. M. Jeffrey, senior chaplain to the Archiboshop, heard screams coming from within the cathedral and came through the north transept. Police were dragging students past him out the door to those who waited outside to assault them.

Canon Jeffery made himself known to the man who appeared to him to be the senior uniformed man present and ordered the police out of his church. A minute later the police had left the cathedral, but students who tried to get out any of the doors were still attacked.

Led out

Students were Initially led out by concealed entrances in groups of twos and threes until about 40 were left. Mrs Helen Suzman. Progressive Party MP for Houghton, led some out. Mr Japle Basson. United Party MP for Bezuidenhout, had police removed from the western entrance, where students wished to leave.

Others Joined the Rev W. J. Manning at 6 pm in a short offering for peace in St John's Chapel, one of the side chapels, "not as a way out, but as a way up.' Two plainclothes policemen watched the service

The protest stand on Friday was an extension of the Nusas Free Education week, which ended on May 30. During this week, students throughout the country tried to bring home to the public some of the injustices of apartheid education, including such things as the discrimination in the amount paid for White and Black education.