Mandela Praises S. African Police at Rally : Politics: Speech conveys his intent to calm fears and build support among the white-led force.

Thirty-four years after one of the bloodiest, most infamous police massacres of the apartheid years, Nelson Mandela appeared Monday at his campaign’s largest rally yet to praise an unlikely group: the much-maligned police.

“The majority of police . . . want peace,” Mandela told the more than 75,000 people who jammed Miami Beach, a weed-filled field beside a foul-smelling industrial pond here. “The majority of police are made up of honest people, black and white, who want to serve our country. We need them. They need us. Together we must work together to build a better South Africa.”

His surprising testimonial came only three days after an independent judicial panel released a report alleging that three of the country’s most senior police officials had secretly funneled assault rifles, mortars, grenade launchers and other weapons to Inkatha Freedom Party guerrillas in hopes of sabotaging the move toward democracy.

But it was clear evidence of how Mandela, the African National Congress leader who is expected to win next month’s democratic elections to become the nation’s first black president, has already focused on calming fears and building support in the anxious ranks of the white-led police force.

Nowhere is the grim legacy of police brutality and misconduct more etched in blood than here, 35 miles southeast of Johannesburg, in the dusty sprawl of tin-roofed shanties, unpaved roads and burning trash heaps of Sharpeville.

It was just before noon on March 21, 1960, when what has been described as the first major demonstration against apartheid was launched. Thousands of unarmed blacks gathered outside a small police station to protest “pass laws,” which severely restricted where blacks could live or work.

Police, frightened by the crowd, suddenly opened fire. When the dust cleared, they had killed 69 people and wounded 180 others, most of them shot in the back.

“Nobody was fighting,” recalled Douglas Mgxekwe, 76, a grizzled survivor of the massacre who waited for Mandela in the crowd’s crush Monday. “Suddenly they shoot. Everyone run away. It was a nightmare. I never forget it.”

The killings signaled the end of a nonviolent, passive resistance campaign that was begun in the 1950s against apartheid. It also marked a vast increase in violent government repression.

Mandela’s giant rally was fairly unforgettable as well. Supporters hung in trees, lined roofs, clung to playground equipment and jammed so tightly on the field that more than a dozen people passed out or were injured and had to be carried out to medics. Others caused near panic as they threw stones, waved assault rifles and axes or tried to ram their way through the crowd.

The crush was so severe that Mandela was unable to reach the stage for 45 minutes after landing nearby in a helicopter. When he finally took the microphone, the stern-faced leader repeatedly interrupted his prepared speech to give a tongue-lashing instead to his security men, the press, the ANC publicity department, the crowd, local “ruffians” and especially ANC local organizers.

“It’s lucky that nobody has died here,” he said angrily. “It is a totally unacceptable situation.”

As soon as he finished speaking, bursts of gunfire suddenly echoed behind the stage from local bands of armed, dancing partisans. Mandela’s bodyguards, waving shotguns and pistols, circled close around him and hustled him into a car.

Mandela’s safety has become a growing concern as the election approaches and tension rises. On Sunday, Mandela’s armored limousine was pelted with stones by National Party supporters as he left a rally in Manenberg. He canceled campaign appearances among Zulus in Natal province on Friday and Saturday after aides reported assassination threats.