S. Africa Protesters Attack Police, Journalists

Blacks angered by the assassination of popular black leader Chris Hani threw stones and shot at police and journalists in a Johannesburg township Monday, but the country generally was calm.

Leaders of black groups urged their followers to refrain from violence. They called for widespread demonstrations and a one-day strike in Johannesburg this week to protest Hani’s killing.

A white extremist group confirmed that Januzu Jakub Wallus, the suspect in the Saturday killing, was a member. The Afrikaner Resistance Movement, a small right-wing white group, said Wallus had been a member since 1986, the South African Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Eugene TerreBlanche, the group’s leader, was quoted as saying Hani was not killed because of his skin color, but because of his role in the Communist Party. The report did not say that TerreBlanche claimed his group was involved, and earlier in the day he had condemned the killing.

Violence erupted in the Katlehong township outside Johannesburg after a protest rally by about 1,500 people. Small groups of youths broke off and burned a house and several vehicles, then threw stones at police and journalists. Shots also were fired, but no injuries were reported.

A man fired a pistol at three news vehicles approaching a burning truck. One bullet hit a car, and all sped to safety.

Police Warrant Officer Andy Pieke said officers fired rubber bullets to disperse the mob.

Protests occurred in a few other areas, but most parts of South Africa were calm after the killing of Hani, the Communist Party leader whose militant opposition to white minority rule won him wide respect from blacks.

Hani, 50, was perhaps the most popular ANC leader after its president, Nelson Mandela. His killing triggered fears of an angry backlash that could threaten talks between black and white leaders on ending apartheid, but government and ANC leaders said they are determined to go ahead with talks.

In Mamelodi township near Pretoria, officials of the ANC’s youth league called for armed attacks on whites in retaliation for Hani’s death, the South African Press Assn. reported.

But the ANC issued a statement appealing for protesters to remain peaceful.

“While the ANC understands the anger of our people in this time of grief, we condemn the attacks on whites,” it said.

The ANC and its allies outlined plans for demonstrations today, urged blacks to stay away from work in Johannesburg on Wednesday and set protest marches Saturday in the Johannesburg area.