Purple Rain Protest

Purple Rain Protest
Cover of "Die Suid-Afrikaan", showing purple rain shower
Date	2 September 1989 (1989-09-02)
Location	Cape Town, South Africa 33°55′20″S 18°25′14″E / 33.92222°S 18.42056°E / -33.92222; 18.42056Coordinates: 33°55′20″S 18°25′14″E / 33.92222°S 18.42056°E / -33.92222; 18.42056
Methods	anti-apartheid protest
Parties to the civil conflict
Mass Democratic Movement National Party South African Police
Lead figures
Allan Boesak Charles Villa-Vincencia Essa Moosa Pierre van den Heever

The Purple March was an anti-apartheid protest held in Cape Town on 2 September 1989, four days before South Africa's racially segregated parliament held its elections. A police water cannon with purple dye was turned on thousands of Mass Democratic Movement supporters who poured into the city in an attempt to march on South Africa's Parliament. White office blocks adjacent to Greenmarket Square were sprayed purple four stories high as a protester leapt onto the roof of the water cannon vehicle, seized the nozzle and attempted to turn the jet away from the crowds.

One of the dyed buildings was the Cape Headquarters of the National Party. The historic Town House, a national monument (now known as a provincial heritage site), was sprayed purple and the force of the jet smashed windows in the Central Methodist Church.

Tear gas was fired and the crowd that had knelt defiantly in the purple jet fled. Adderley Street was closed to traffic as scores of shops and businesses closed their doors and hundreds of people were arrested, including Dr Allan Boesak, UCT academic Dr Charles Villa-Vincencia, Western Cape Council of Churches official Rev. Pierre van den Heever and lawyer Essa Moosa.

The police were using a new water cannon with purple dye whose purpose was to stain protestors for later identification and arrest. Protesters were warned to disperse, but instead knelt in the street. When the cannon was turned on them, some protestors remained kneeling while others fled; some had their feet knocked out from under them by the force of the jet. In Adderley Street, shoppers ran for cover, their eyes streaming, and a young couple with a baby in a pram were hurriedly ushered into a shop which then locked its doors.

A lone protestor, Philip Ivey, redirected the water cannon toward the local headquarters of the ruling National Party. The headquarters, along with the historic, white-painted Old Town House, overlooking Greenmarket Square, were doused with purple dye.