
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990                   TAG: 9003270205
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH                                 LENGTH: Medium

KILLING OF 9 BY POLICE DENOUNCED

Black leaders today denounced police as having used unnecessary force in firing on a protest march with shotguns, killing at least nine blacks and wounding more than 400 others.

African National Congress leader Walter Sisulu said black leaders would complain about Monday's incident when the ANC meets government leaders April 11 to try to clear the way for talks on ending white-minority rule.

Police officers, who declined to be named, said five blacks were killed Monday when police fired on the march in the black township of Sebokeng south of Johannesburg. The officers, who were commenting on the event for the first time, said about 260 people were hurt, half of them by police.

But officials at the Sebokeng Hospital said today that nine people were killed and 447 were treated for injuries, mostly from police shotgun fire.

Police also clashed with protesters in several other townships near Johannesburg Monday, using shotguns, rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds. No deaths were reported.

The Mass Democratic Movement, which organized Monday's protest against high rents in Sebokeng, claimed police "excited" the situation and started the violence. It urged blacks to be calm and disciplined.

"In most of the marches our people have been conscious of the need to keep order and discipline, and there is never any need for the police to take the kind of violent action they took," the group said in a statement.

In another development, police reported today that nine blacks had been killed over the past 24 hours in factional fighting, including seven men hacked to death by a mob in an apparent revenge killing in Natal province.

And in Cape Town today, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse some 150 squatters who tried to stop municipal workers from demolishing shacks at a squatter camp. Police said they intervened after squatters attacked the workers with rocks, bottles and sticks. One worker was injured.

Thousands of blacks marched today in Kwathema township near Johannesburg to protest against high rents. Police monitored the peaceful march and made no move to intervene, witnesses said.

Sisulu said the violence in Sebokeng and other black townships may stem from efforts to derail negotiations with the government on sharing power with blacks. Government officials have made the same charge.

Police said they were forced to fire in Sebokeng after protesters armed with stones, bottles and clubs attacked police and injured two officers.

Blacks in Sebokeng had claimed the march was peaceful and police opened fire without provocation.

by CNB