On 16 June 1976 police opened fire on a crowd of between 10,000–20,000 schoolchildren in Soweto as they marched to a rally at Orlando Stadium to protest the Afrikaans Medium Decree, which required all black schools to use a fifty-fifty mix of Afrikaans and English in their lessons, and some subjects to be taught solely in Afrikaans. This marked the beginning of the Soweto Uprising, which went on for several months until the government reversed the decree, and during which time it is estimated that up to 700 students were killed.