Armed Neo-Nazis March in Pretoria Protest

Hundreds of armed neo-Nazis--some accompanied by their children--marched through the South African capital Saturday to protest the end of apartheid and demand a separate state for whites.

The marchers, many armed with guns and knives, paraded with swastika-like flags to the beat of drums as horsemen cantered alongside. “Kill the blacks,” some marchers shouted.

Billed as a major display of strength, the Afrikaner Resistance Movement was able to muster only 3,000 supporters from across the country.

Units of uniformed women and children, including toddlers, bolstered the turnout.

A handful of marchers chased a group of blacks at one point, but the march was otherwise peaceful. Heavily armed police and army troops in battle gear ringed the city center to prevent trouble.

Right-wing leaders denounced government plans to share power with the black majority and hold non-racial elections. They vowed to fight unless whites are given a separate homeland.

“We won’t be the slaves of the South African Communist Party and the African National Congress,” a speaker told a rally, where families ate picnic lunches and purchased racist publications before the march.

A former army commander, Constand Viljoen, and other former generals who are trying to unite the fragmented right joined the march.

But the relatively moderate Viljoen was overshadowed by Eugene TerreBlanche, the movement’s leader, who often feuds with other right-wing groups.

TerreBlanche took the salute on horseback from marching followers while the ex-generals on foot frantically tried to find places in the ceremony.

The march underlines the right wing’s problems as it attempts to resist non-racial democracy. Most whites reject the right wing’s growing extremism, and the various rightist groups have been unable to unite because of ideological and leadership differences.

They have also tended to avoid confrontation with the government.

President Frederik W. de Klerk’s government, the ANC and other black and white groups are trying to set a date for elections and are reportedly making progress on drawing up a new constitution that would end apartheid.