Bomb Threats Force Tutu, Worshipers From Prayer Service
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Telephoned bomb threats forced Bishop Desmond Tutu and about 100 worshipers to evacuate the Anglican cathedral this morning at the start of a nationwide day of prayer.
Police and bomb-sniffing dogs checked St. Mary’s Cathedral, but no explosives were found and services resumed.
About 50% of all black workers stayed off the job in the Indian Ocean port city of Durban and in Johannesburg, where most of the work force resides in Soweto, the black township of about 2 million residents southwest of the city.
In the auto-manufacturing city of Port Elizabeth, 600 miles south of Johannesburg, employers and labor unions agreed beforehand to halt assembly work and allow workers 30-minute sessions for nationwide prayers to end apartheid.
National employer groups urged members to cooperate with workers wanting time off to pray.
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