Unarmed black protesters were shot dead by police in apartheid South Africa in 1960, in a massacre that shocked the world and led to the racist regime becoming increasingly isolated internationally.
Now, survivors and relatives of victims who died in Sharpeville want compensation for their suffering, their lawyers say. But the victims also want the law changed so that apartheid victims can receive greater compensation and for modern South Africa to open up to a reckoning with the apartheid era.
"This is not about individual cases. It is about all people who have suffered injustice," says Ishmael Poho, whose father died in the massacre.
He is one of three plaintiffs in the case, but the lawyers say more than 70 people have expressed interest in joining the legal process.
"It's impossible to forget what happened. Not a day goes by without me thinking about how we've been affected," says another of the three plaintiffs, 87-year-old Abram Mofokeng, who was shot in the foot and back as he fled the scene.
According to official figures, 69 black protesters died on March 21, 1960, including several children. Later research suggests that as many as 91 people may have died and 238 were injured.
Already that same year, several victims demanded compensation, but the apartheid government then introduced new laws that protected police from liability. The plaintiffs now want the state to repeal this law, so that liability can be claimed.
