Police responses to peaceful mass defiance continued to rely mainly on methods involving use of lethal weapons. However, other responses included deployment of unarmed women officers to stop an 'illegal' march by religious functionaries; and their noticeable absence from mass marches in Johannesburg and Cape Town in September.
In the early stages of the defiance campaign police used whips, batons, teargas and shotguns to disperse gatherings. Hundreds of people who marched to Kempton Park Magistrates' Court near Johannesburg on 10 August in support of 27 COSATU members facing charges arising from the defiance campaign were whipped by police. Rubber bullets, whips and batons were used to clear black visitors from 'whites-only' beaches in Cape Town in August. A bus heading for the beach was fired at by the police, injuring four people. At the Universities of the North and Fort Hare police used similar methods against marches in support of the defiance campaign.
On 5 August at Groote Schuur Hospital, police fired teargas and shotguns to disperse a group of well wishers visiting Oscar Mpetha on his 80th birthday. Mpetha, who is seriously ill, is serving a five-year prison term under guard in hospital.
Police response to the presence of the media was guided by the methods they wished to use to break demonstrations. Where they used non-violent methods they did not prevent media coverage, but in incidents where lethal weapons were to be used representatives of the media were first removed or detained.
On 6 September, election day, police went on the rampage in Cape Town townships killing more than 20 people including a three-month old baby and a 16 year old pregnant girl and injuring over 200 others. The incident followed similar actions in various parts of the country a few days before the elections. Although police attributed the deaths to 'factional fights' overwhelming eyewitness and professional evidence showed that the police were responsible.
In Mitchells Plain town centre was stopped by police under the command of a Lieutenant Rockman and given 20 minutes to disperse. As they prepared to do so they were beaten up by riot police who had arrived on the scene. Shocked by their actions, Rockman broke police codes of conduct and made public his disapproval of their methods, saying they were responsible for causing the 'unrest' in the area. He said police assaulted people indiscriminately, and that he saw a woman who was eight months pregnant deliberately knocked down by police.
At Lavender Hill a church was turned into a makeshift hospital where between 50 and 60 people were treated for bird-shot and buckshot wounds. A local priest said 'children sitting on the staircases of their homes were also shot... It looked like a battlefield.' In Khayamnandi, Stellenbosch, Liziwe MASOKANYE (23) and her three-month old baby girl died of gunshot wounds. In Mitchells Plain police armed with shotguns and whips patrolled in an ambulance, attacking residents at random. Seventy-five senior doctors who treated the victims of police violence complained to the Minister of Law and Order about their misconduct and reckless use of force. In Manenberg one doctor said he treated children between 14 and 19 years of age suffering extensive birdshot injuries. He found that the concentration of pellets demonstrated that the victims were fired on at close range.
