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Police reports in 1960 claimed that young and inexperienced police officers panicked and opened fire spontaneously, setting off a chain reaction that lasted about forty seconds. It is likely that the police were nervous as two months before the massacre, nine constables had been assaulted and killed during a raid at [[Cato Manor]].<ref name="vaque1989"/> In addition, few of the policemen present had received public order training. Some of them had been on duty for over twenty-four hours without respite.<ref name="vaque1989"/> Lieutenant Colonel Pienaar, the commanding officer of the police reinforcements at Sharpeville, said in his revealing statement that "the native mentality does not allow them to gather for a peaceful demonstration. For them to gather means violence."<ref name="Reeves">{{cite web | last=Reeves | first=Rt. Reverend Ambrose | title=The Sharpeville Massacre - A watershed in South Africa | publisher=sahistory.org.za | url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/articles_papers/1960-sharpeville-massacre-rev-ambrose.html | accessdate=15 July 2007}}</ref> He also denied giving any order to fire and stated that he would not have done so.
Other evidence given to the [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] 38 years later in 1998 by two of the victims
==Response==
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