100 Arrested as South Africa Launches Massive Crackdown on Political Unrest

The government of President Frederik W. de Klerk arrested more than 100 people in two provinces Friday in the first major crackdown on political unrest in the country since the unveiling of a racial reform program five weeks ago.

Police said at least 19 blacks died in fighting in one township overnight in a battle between rival taxi operators that has overwhelmed local hospitals and continued to rage despite appeals for peace by anti-apartheid leaders.

Capt. Ruben Bloomberg, a police spokesman in Pretoria, said 53 blacks were detained in overnight sweeps in the central Orange Free State province and 10 others in the northern Transvaal province under regulations of a 44-month-old state of emergency.

Another 67 people, all whites, were arrested on charges of obstructing police when they tried to disrupt a protest march by black schoolteachers in the central city of Welkom.

Police said the whites, mostly farmers, were armed with whips and other weapons.

The arrests coincided with one of the worst outbreaks of political unrest in the country since the June, 1986, imposition of the state of emergency.

The unrest has intensified since De Klerk lifted a 30-year ban on the African National Congress five weeks ago and has spread to the nominally independent black homelands.