Pic6107. Trafalgar Square rally, 28 May 1961

AAM stewards hold back right-wingers trying to break up a rally in Trafalgar Square on Sunday 28 May 1961. The rally was held to support a strike in South Africa in protest against celebrations of South Africa becoming a republic on 31 May. The strike was called by a specially convened National Action Committee, who asked workers and students to stay at home on 29, 30 and 31 May. There was massive repression in the run-up to the strike and it had only patchy support. It was the last major attempt at mass peaceful protest in South Africa until the mid-1980s.