page 535 - Long Walk Original Manuscript [LWOM_535.jpg]

the police plans. Only a limited number of people were allowed in, mainly relatives. Even from some of these the police demanded passes in order to intimidate them. Walter's young son (which one?) was arrested for not having a pass. Walter and I were already convicted prisoners serving our respective sentences and on the first day of our appearance we wore khakhi jackets, trousers and shirts. As a result of objections by our lawyers we were subsequently allowed to come to court in our private clothes.

As each of us entered we turned back and greeted the crowds with clenched fist to which they warmly responded and rose to their feet. Col. Aucamp immediately protested and warned us not to do so again. But we ignored him and pointed out that his authority over us began and ended in jail;`once we were in court he had no right to give us such orders. During the tea adjournment he again warned us and threatened to take Walter's and my private clothes so that we would once again appear in khakhi. After this incident the authorities took the extraordinary precaution of bringing in the presiding judge before we entered. We then discussed the matter among ourselves and decided it would be unwise for us to continue the demonstration while the court was in session. A weighty consideration was also our desire to protect our people in court who would have been victimised for responding to our salutes.

Another attack was launched against the indictment but this time we knew beforehand that it was not likely to succeed. And that is how it turned out. We were of the opinion that something fishy had happened between the quashing of the first indictment and our fresh applications. During