VENTERSDORP, South Africa (Reuters) - Tempers flared outside a South African court on Tuesday ahead of the appearance of two black farm workers accused of killing white supremacist leader Eugene Terre'blanche.
Police erected a barbed wire barricade to separate a crowd of 200 supporters of Terre'blanche's Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) from a group of black workers outside the court in Ventersdorp, 100 km (60 miles) west of Johannesburg.
AWB loyalists had been singing South Africa's apartheid-era national anthem, prompting the opposing side to respond with Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica, (God Bless Africa) the anthem introduced after the country's first multi-racial elections in 1994.
South African leaders, including President Jacob Zuma, have urged calm since Saturday's killing, and police reacted quickly to separate the two groups when a white woman threw a bottle of water, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.
The "Rainbow Nation", saddled with a reputation for crime and violence, will be in the international spotlight in a little over two months when it hosts the soccer World Cup.
Police believe Terre'blanche, who had pushed to preserve white minority rule in the 1990s, was killed over a pay dispute.
Reuters Africa
