Demonstrations South Africa

A surge of township violence and clashes with the police left eight blacks dead and several dozen injured Tuesday, the second day of a nationwide strike by more than 1 million black workers to protest restrictions on anti-apartheid groups. The strike, part of a three-day protest called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), lost a little steam Tuesday but remained widespread.

Hundreds of thousands of black South Africans, defying emergency restrictions, refused to report for work Monday, beginning a three-day general strike to protest proposed new labor legislation and a government clampdown on anti-apartheid groups. There were scattered reports of violence, including a gasoline bomb attack on a commuter bus in Natal province that injured five people.

A three-day general strike by more than 1 million blacks, the largest nationwide anti-apartheid protest since the South African government declared a nationwide state of emergency two years ago to quell growing unrest, ended Wednesday with police reports of two more deaths and numerous attacks on buses. The strength of the strike continued to be evident, especially around Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

The government suffered a setback on Friday in its bid to suppress campus unrest in South Africa. The Cape Town Supreme Court threw out regulations requiring university authorities to enforce strict campus discipline or risk losing state subsidies on which many of them rely heavily.