SOUTH AFRICA/FILE: U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama visits memorial to 12-year-old Hector Pieterson and pays homage to victims of apartheid

Record ID: 334887

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA/FILE: U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama visits memorial to 12-year-old Hector Pieterson and pays homage to victims of apartheid
  • Date: 23rd June 2011
  • Summary: PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - JUNE 21, 1976) (REUTERS) (MONOCHROME) PROTESTERS BEHIND BARBED WIRE HOUSE ON FIRE POLICE BASHING WIRE GRATING ACROSS WINDOW OF HOUSE WITH GUNS HELICOPTER FLYING BURNED OUT HOUSES POLICE STANDING HOLDING GUNS SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - JUNE 23, 1977) (REUTERS) (MONOCHROME) POLICEMAN SHOUTING THROUGH MEGAPHONE AT PROTESTERS PROTESTERS RUNNING DURING RIOT POLICE WALKING FORWARD
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5E3HTP77B1S9NNPN3SR17XNX8
  • Story Text: U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama visited South Africa's largest township, Soweto on Wednesday (June 22) to lay a wreath at the memorial to Hector Pieterson, one of the first young victims of bloody confrontations between protesters and apartheid-era police in 1976 and 1977.
    Twelve-year-old Hector Pieterson, who was shot on June 16, 1976, was one of the first of more than 500 people killed by police during ten months on unrest which became known as the Soweto Uprising.
    Pieterson was killed during a march by township schoolchildren protesting against the use of Afrikaans as a teaching language.
    A photograph showing Pieterson's body in the arms of a man as his sister, Antoinette, runs alongside was widely circulated the international media.
    Details for the photograph have been used to create an etching in the stonework of the memorial.
    Pieterson's sister helped Obama lay the wreath at the memorial.
    Michelle Obama arrived in South Africa on Monday (June 20) on her second official solo journey abroad with a goal of advancing U.S. policies on education, health, and democracy.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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