Riots erupt in East London, Eastern Cape

Date: 9 Nov 1952
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Riots erupted in East London, Eastern Cape after strike meetings were banned by the government. 17 protesters were killed, as well as an Irish Nun who was stoned to death by the mob. The riots happened five months after the start of the Defiance Campaign, 26 June 1952 when the first volunteers including Nelson Mandela, Yusuf Dadoo and Walter Sisulu defied Apartheid laws in Johannesburg and other major city centres. The period 1950 -1952 was marked by a commitment to militant African nationalism, mass action, and tactics of boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience.

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How we know this

01Boddy-Evans, A. ‘This Day in African History: 9 November’, [online], available at https://africanhistory.about.com (accessed: 10 October 2013)
02South African History Online, ‘Defiance Campaign 1952’, [online], available at www.sahistory.org.za (accessed: 10 October 2013)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, November 7). Riots erupt in East London, Eastern Cape. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0069292

South African History Online (2011) 'Riots erupt in East London, Eastern Cape', South African History Online, 7 November. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0069292 (Accessed: 24 August 2026).

South African History Online, Riots erupt in East London, Eastern Cape [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0069292, (accessed 24 August 2026).

"Riots erupt in East London, Eastern Cape." South African History Online, 7 Nov. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0069292. Accessed 24 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Riots erupt in East London, Eastern Cape." South African History Online. November 7, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0069292.