The World : Halt Fast, Detainees Urged

The South African Council of Churches called on the sickest of about 250 hunger-striking detainees to suspend their fast amid increasing signs that the government may be preparing to release a large number of the activists held without charge. The council’s recommendation, which is likely to be widely observed, was aimed at preventing irreversible medical damage to the protesters, some of whom are in their 23rd day of fasting. About 20 strikers have been hospitalized, and a few of them are being fed intravenously with their permission, doctors said. The council’s plea came after the second day of private meetings between Adriaan Vlok, the government’s minister of law and order, and lawyers representing the detainees.