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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 44 No. 13. June 15 1981

Cops Wade in

Cops Wade in

Then the police arrived. Armed with semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns, tear gas and batons. They made no attempt to talk to the pupils but instead began hurling tear gas into the crowd.

A white policeman then pulled out a revolver and shot Hector Petersen in the back. More shots followed and then students responded by stoning the police.

News of the shooting raced round Soweto and the uprising began. Pupils poured into the streets in anger and frustration. Many children lay dead on the road outside Orlando West.

The uprising spread and students attacked and burned government buildings, post offices, beer halls and offices of the Bantu administration. The police began indiscriminate shootings of blacks.