Demonstrations begin outside the South African Embassy in Washington D.C.

Demonstrations began outside the South African Embassy in Washington DC and continued on an almost daily basis as anti-apartheid protesters demanded a stronger anti-South Africa policy from the United States (U.S.) government. The U.S. Congressman Walter Fauntroy and three other civil rights activists, Randall Robinson, Executive Director of TransAfrica and Dr. Mary Frances Berry, Commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, were arrested for a sit-in at South African embassy in Washington DC. Georgetown University law professor Eleanor Holmes Norton was never arrested, as she had stepped out to address the media. The Free South Africa Movement (FSAM) went on to discuss violations of human rights under the apartheid government.  At the end of the meeting they refused to leave the building and began a sit-in.