What Happened at Sharpeville on 21st March 1960?Massacre or Self-Defence?
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- Thu Oct 07 2004

... Katie Bradford What Happened at Sharpeville on 21st March 1960? Massacre or Self-Defence? 1) How far do these two sources agree about what happened in Sharpeville on the morning of 21 March? The events, which occurred in Sharpeville on 21st March 1960, are disputed a lot. Some people argue that the police opened fire for no reason, whereas, others think the police were under attack and only opened fire in self-defence. Source A and Source B show a strong difference in opinion as to what happened on that major day in South African history. There are many opposing ideas and statements from both texts as to who was really to blame. Source A was written by a journalist from a South African magazine. At the beginning of his report he comments on how they were "driving behind a big grey police car and three Saracen armoured cars." This infers that the police













