South Africa has commemorated the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960.

Fifty years ago, the Sharpeville Massacre drew international condemnation when sixty-nine people were gunned down by police, acting on the instructions of the apartheid government.

The dead have been honoured with church services as part of Human Rights Day.

Many people gathered at the Roman Catholic church in Sharpeville to lay wreaths on the graves of those shot down by police, as they were trying through fear to run away.

Demonstrators had gathered outside the police station on the day of the massacre to protest against pass laws, which required all blacks to carry identity documents at all times.

No police were ever convicted over the killings, however, the Sharpeville massacre forced political activists to start an underground armed resistance in South Africa, which eventually became the ANC; the party of Nelson Mandela.