 You're welcome back to the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. It's now time for Today in History, and I'm going back all the way to 1976 to tell you what happened on the 16th of June this year. And this story was a very dark day in the history of South Africa because lots of school children came out to protest in their thousands against reforms in the education system that didn't seem like it was dead at progress, especially of the blacks in South Africa. So what happened was that in South Africa, it was during the heat of the apathide era in the country. So the government had just said that the language Africans would be used to teach in schools as well as English. You know what, they didn't really love the idea because they decided to focus them, or to force them to focus on the language rather than the subject matter that's been thought. Imagine being thought in, for example, even though it's to be a great idea, exactly, imagine being forced to be thought in a language you don't understand. You would, you know, it's a bit sort of like a barrier to learning the subject. Because I want to concentrate on learning the language before even learning the subject matter. Exactly, exactly. So about 2,000 students participated in that protest. They say they must be taught in English that they already understand. You know, they went to school that they had to protest. Even those who went to school without having any knowledge of the protest, they volunteered to join the protest. You know, the plan was for them to all match to a stadium called Orlando, the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa. You know, so when they began this peaceful protest, peaceful march against the imposition of the language in the school curriculum, based on the Africans' medium decree of 1974, the police, you know, stopped them on the way, you know, enlisted dogs at these school children. The school children killed the dogs and then the police began to spray tear gas canisters and even live bullets at the children. Some of the children were killed. You know, some new sources would tell you that as much as 176 school children were killed. Others would tell you that about 700 school children were killed. So it really just was a time when the political consciousness of everybody was high, especially that of children, because they were able to see first-hand desegregation that was happening in the country. Education was free, supposed to be fair, but for indigens of South Africa, it wasn't so. There was lots of discrimination in the quality of the education that they got and now in the language of the medium with which, you know, school work was going to be thought. So people didn't really agree with that. You can see pictures on your screen. You know, a man there carrying a boy, supposedly dead. You can see people screaming. You can see the look on the faces of people. About 2,000 people coming out of protests. You know, the injustice, so to speak, that were faced within that country. So eventually, this uprising, this event in Soweto, June 16th of 1976, was adapted into a movie in 2003 called Standard. And it was just basically, oh, you watched the movie? Yes, I saw clips of it. Fantastic, so it just basically, you know, went on to describe the events of that day. Now, this day in history has been remembered as a youth day in South Africa. So yes, youth day has been celebrated right now in South Africa to say this is the day where, you know, black children were killed in the hundreds because they were protested against Africans being used as a medium of education in the country. It is also today in history, in 2019, Hong Kong is our next port of call where they experienced the largest protests in the history of the country. Basically, the issue was, you know, extradition of Hong Kong to mainland China. It is reported that about two million people, you know, participated in that particular protest that they, you know, they just sat in. I remember, you know, monitoring that particular story during 2019 and how almost every day the numbers were increasing. Even when police fired tear gas and, you know, shot at some protesters, they were not, you know, deterred. They kept on at it. Let me just reel out some of the highlights of what happened at that particular time. Nearly two million people, like I've said, took part in the mass protest in Hong Kong against a controversial extradition bill. It would be the largest protest in Hong Kong's history. A police said the tenant was 338,000 at its peak. The masses turned out despite the suspension of the bill which would allow extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China. The demonstration began early in the afternoon in Victoria Square with many wearing black. The progress of the march was slow as the large numbers of people blocked men's streets and crowded train stations. As darkness fell, protesters started to take over major roads and crossings and surrounded the legislative council building. There was skepticism among some protesters about me's lamp's decision to suspend the bill. The residents of Hong Kong actually came out in one voice. They were not deterred at all and they marched for several days. It wasn't just a dating. For a very long time. So when we had the end stars and protests that when Nigerians were all united, I couldn't help but be reminded of what happened in Hong Kong in 2019. So this Hong Kong protest in 2019 then was a very big issue of controversy because we know that when you're talking about Hong Kong former British colony 1841 and how they eventually reached the agreement in China, one government, two systems fighting for their autonomy. And there was this extradition bill to say that criminals in Hong Kong would be extradited to China to face the judicial system. They have to face trial. People were really opposed to this. They said that if people who have been accused of any crime would be extradited from Hong Kong to China, it would lead to a gradual erosion of the judicial system in Hong Kong and that people who are critics of China would be easily targeted. And just send them over to China, face the judicial system. And these were the fears that people were having and they were angry with Carrie Lam then for her support of the bill. So that basically was what support this protest. And just like you mentioned, it was the largest protest in Hong Kong's history. Two million people came out from that early afternoon to Victoria Square. You know, protesting against that extradition bill to say that they refused to let that stand. And then when the bill was repealed, the protest continued. That was to show you how determined and how they actually spoke with one voice and they just wanted to work in unison. Exactly. And the great thing is that on this day in history, the protest that occurred June 16, it was relatively peaceful because unlike protests that we've seen in days leading up to June 16 where police and protestors clashed, this one police didn't really, you know, the police was not violent towards the protestors and it was, you know, nearly two million man demonstration in Hong Kong and they didn't have some impact. Some countries and population coming all out at the same time to protest that alleged injustice as it were. So yes, that's all we have for you today in history. 1976, this is a way to uprise in where estimates say 176 or up to 700 children were killed in Soweto when they were protesting against the medium of language and then medium of teaching in South Africa as well as in 2019. Nearly two million people came out to protest. So yes, that's it for you today in history. We'll take a break here and we'll delve into our first conversation of the day and it's about insecurity. What happened in Platte Street about 12 people, 12 men who were reportedly killed. So we'll have discussions with both sides. People who are saying, Headsmen did it and the Headsmen grouped the Mieti Allah saying no, they didn't do that and just the accusations, counter accusations and just what the details were about that killing and attacks in Platte Street on Sunday. This thing would also be right back.