80s24. ‘March Against Apartheid’, 2 November 1985

The AAM’s March against Apartheid on 2 November 1985 was the biggest ever anti-apartheid march in Britain to date. Three separate marches converged on Trafalgar Square, where ANC President Oliver Tambo, SWAPO leader Shapua Kaukungua and US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson called on the British government to impose sanctions against South Africa. The march followed demonstrations in Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh and Stirling. A month earlier Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was forced to agree to limited sanctions at the Commonwealth Conference held in Nassau and to ‘restrictive measures’ imposed by the European Economic Community. But she blocked a bigger package of sanctions agreed by Commonwealth leaders.