Hundreds march for women in Pta

Pretoria - Hundreds of people marched in the Pretoria city centre on Saturday to commemorate Women's Day.

There was huge police presence in the city as marchers left Lilian Ngoyi square and headed to the Union Buildings.

Numerous police vehicles flashing blue lights escorted the crowd. Many police officers manned major intersections.

On this day in 1956 around 20 000 women participated in a national march to protest against pass law legislation, which required non-white South Africans to carry a document on them to prove that they were allowed to enter "white areas".

Women of all races and ages from all corners of the country marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

The march was organised by the Federation of South African Women (Fedsaw) and led by Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa, Sophie Williams and Lilian Ngoyi.