Stories and facts

On December 18, 1963, students from Ghana and other African countries protested on Red Square in Moscow following the alleged death of Ghanaian medical student Edmund Assare-Addo.

Estimates of the crowd range from 150 to 700 participants. Ghana’s ambassador, John Banks Elliott, requested militsiya protection for the embassy after reports of attacks linked to the demonstration.

Assare-Addo, 29, was studying at the Kalinin Medical Institute. His body was found near a remote road outside Moscow.

African students claimed he had been stabbed for planning to propose to a Russian woman, while Soviet authorities said he died of exposure while intoxicated. An autopsy confirmed death from cold, with no clear signs of trauma.

The protesters carried placards reading “Moscow – center of discrimination,” “Stop killing Africans!” and “Moscow, a second Alabama,” and marched to the Spasskiye Gates of the Kremlin, giving interviews to Western journalists.

The Soviet TASS agency condemned the protest, calling it a disturbance of public order.

By December 20, students returned to classes and militsiya protection was lifted.

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