South Africa. Transvaal, now part of Gauteng. Sharpeville. Police in a mixture of Saracen armoured personel carriers and police cars in the fenced police compound some time before the massacre on 21st March 1960 watch a plane fly overhead. After a day of demonstrations, a crowd of protesters gathered in Sharpeville, around the fence securing the police compound. The South African police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people and injuring 180 others. The casualties, most of whom were shot in the back as they fled, included 29 children. While sources disagree about whether the people were rowdy or not, all agree that they were unarmed and protesting peacefully. In present-day South Africa, 21 March is celebrated as a public holiday in honour of human rights and to commemorate the Sharpeville <assacre. 1960.