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Six leaders of the United Democratic Front and the South African Indian Congress entered the British consulate in Durban to avoid detention by the South African authorities in 1984. Three of them were immediately detained on leaving the consulate. This letter from Prime Minister Thatcher to the AAM’s Chair Bob Hughes MP defended the British government’s decision to bar access to the lawyers of the remaining three men. Five of the six were charged with high treason.

Leeds City Council, local trade unions, and Leeds City and University AA Groups came together to organise a week of anti-apartheid events in October 1984. Activities included a vigil for political prisoners, collection of material aid, film shows and fundraising concerts, and an activists conference.

Women demonstrators picketed British Nuclear Fuels plant near Preston in north-west England on 2 November 1984. Earlier in the year a group of women peace activists were gaoled after they gained entry to the BNFL’s plant at Capenhurst, Cheshire. The November picket was one of four protests at BNFL installations in Scotland and northern England. The coordinated demonstrations were part of a national week of action on Namibia organised by the AAM and Namibia Support Committee, 27 October–2 November 1984. In the 1970s and 1980s Britain imported Namibian uranium in contravention of UN resolutions declaring that South Africa’s occupation of Namibia was illegal.

Demonstrations against the illegal import of Namibian uranium took place at four British Nuclear Fuels installations on 2 November 1984. This leaflet publicised the protest. It made links between campaigners for the liberation of Namibia and peace protesters calling for nuclear disarmament. The protest was part of a Namibia Week of Action, 27 October–2 November 1984, co-ordinated by the AAM and Namibia Support Committee.

Demonstrations against the illegal import of Namibian uranium took place at four British Nuclear Fuels installations on 2 November 1984. This leaflet publicised the protest at BFNL’s headquarters near Warrington in the north of England. It made links between campaigners for the liberation of Namibia, peace protesters calling for nuclear disarmament and miners whose jobs were threatened by pit closures. The protest was part of a Namibia Week of Action, 27 October–2 November 1984, co-ordinated by the AAM and the Namibia Support Committee.

The National Student Convention held in November 1984 was the final event in a five-week speaking tour of British colleges by representatives of the ANC (African National Congress) and SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organisation). It was attended by over 200 students.

Leaflet advertising a public meeting in Islington, north London, in November 1984, highlighting South Africa’s war against the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in Namibia. The main speaker was Labour shadow Foreign Secretary, Donald Anderson MP.

From the early 1980s young white South Africans who refused to do compulsory military service came to Britain and played an important part in anti-apartheid campaigns. In 1984 the apartheid government extended military conscription for whites. In this picture supporters of COSAWR are protesting against South Africa’s new military offensive against Angola in the winter of 1983/84.