POLICE IN S.A.

Press, Volume C, Issue 29504, 4 May 1961, Page 15

POLICE IN S.A.

Hundreds On Alert

(NZ.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) JOHANNESBURG. May 3. Hundreds of white and African policemen throughout South Africa have been ordered to stand by for special orders. Police officials have refused to explain why. but one said it was a "routine precautionary matter." Three hundred police are standing by at the Johannesburg Central Police barracks and others have been concentrated in the entire Witwatersrand area and in African townships where more than 350.000 Africans live. All day yesterday, convoys carrying more than 500 white and African constables streamed into Pietermaritzburg. Early today, hundreds of South African police raided African settlements in Natal and Johannesburg after the overnight. country - wide police alert. African settlements at Cato Manor and Sobantu. in Pietermaritzburg, were raided by squads of police searching tor subversive pamphlets. On the Witwatersrand other police raided African townships on Johannesburg's outskirts and reports said that the homes of some whites there were also entered. About 200 police, armed with sten guns and rifles, were on duty last night at Durban radio station. African police massed at the police station in Cato Manor. A detachment of white and African police were reported stationed just outside Kimberley, on the road to Johannesburg. In Cape Town, the Police Commissioner, LieutenantGeneral H. J. Duplooy declined to comment on the police movements, adding they were not expected to disclose their plans beforehand. In Natal, police today carried out widespread raids in Cato Manor and Sobantu. The reason for the raids is believed to be a search for pamphlets which have been printed in connexion with proposed African demonstrations when South Africa is proclaimed a republic later this month.