Tutu Will Defy Ban, Hold Rites to Mark Soweto Riots

Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu said today he will hold church services on the 10th anniversary of the Soweto riots in defiance of a government ban on gatherings linked to the uprising.

“I will instruct my clergy to organize church services on June 16 and I will participate in such services,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner said in a statement.

Tutu, who returned Wednesday from a trip to Europe and North America, criticized the ban ordered by Law and Order Minister Louis le Grange.

“The minister seems bent on provoking blacks to defy his ill-advised ban to give policemen yet another excuse to get at black people,” Tutu said.

Le Grange on Wednesday banned all public gatherings through June 30 with any link to the Soweto riots or the Freedom Charter signed June 26, 1955. The charter set out principles for a future non-segregated South Africa.

In Cape Town, an aide to Le Grange said the ban included church services unless they avoided mention of the Soweto or Freedom Charter anniversaries.

The government earlier banned outdoor meetings, except when authorized on an individual basis. The new ban, which extended to indoor gatherings, was the government’s most far-reaching effort to ward off what it fears will be widespread demonstrations by blacks June 16.

Also today, blacks stoned a supermarket after police moved in to stop the first meeting halted under the new ban--a planned rally and news conference by the United Democratic Front anti-apartheid coalition.

Riot police cordoned off two blocks as United Democratic Front supporters streamed out of a church-run building where the news conference was to have been held. The group’s supporters dispersed after stoning the supermarket. Police reported no arrests.