On 16 June 1976, an uprising broke out in Soweto, in which predominantly 13- to 16-year-old students from Soweto participated in a march to protest against being taught in Afrikaans and against the Bantu Education system in general. The police ordered the children to disperse, and when they refused, the police opened fire, killing scores (and by some estimates, hundreds) of them, as the children pelted the police with stones. The government responded by banning the entire Black Consciousness Movement along with many other political organisations, as well as issuing banning orders against various persons. Donald Woods was one of the banned persons and was effectively placed under house arrest.