 The 1950s saw the ANC begin the Defiance Campaign to oppose the pass laws.This conflict climaxed at the Sharpeville Massacre, where the anti-pass protestors led by the rival breakaway Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) surrounded the Sharpeville police station, prompting the police to open fire, killing 69 people and injuring over 180.Subsequent protests and strikes were met with major repression and the ANC and PAC were both banned.