Drum Magazine social history photographs, South Africa edition 897

Big Noisy Trial: A treason trialist arrives by police van at the back entrance of the Drill Hall. The Treason Trials began like an action-packed cowboy film when 156 men and women appeared before the court in Johannesburg for a preparatory examination. These trials, now the talk of South Africa and the world at large, started with a 'bang-bang-bang'. There was drama inside the Drill Hall, where the preparatory examination into charges of high treason against more than 150 individuals from various organisations was held before the Chief Magistrate of Bloemfontein, Mr. F.C.A. Wessel. And there was drama outside in the streets of Johannesburg when the police clashed several times with the crowd, all because the Drill Hall could not accommodate the approximately 5,000 people gathered outside. First, it was booing that led to a baton charge, which led to stone-throwing, which then led to gunshots. Side interludes included the snatching of Press cameras and the arrest of photographers. Everyone was in a foul mood, and as the police and the public taunted each other, it looked like a situation that could turn dangerous at any moment.