Johannesburg Central Police Station

The Johannesburg Central Police Station is a South African Police Service police station in Johannesburg, South Africa. Until 1997, it was called John Vorster Square.
History.
John Vorster Square was officially opened on the 23 August 1968 by John Vorster, the then prime minister of the Republic of South Africa. It was a 10 storey, blue coloured cement building. Floors nine and ten were occupied by the police Security Branch while the detainees cells were on the lower floors of the building. During the apartheid era, the police station in downtown Johannesburg was a notorious site of interrogation, torture and abuse by the South African Security Police of apartheid resistance fighters. During September 1997, John Vorster Square was renamed Johannesburg Central Police Station and with that the removal of the bust of John Vorster.
Under apartheid.
John Vorster Square was also used as a detention centre mostly for political activists; those sent into "detention" were not allowed to have any contact with family members, lawyers or any outside help; they were cut off from the world. Detention could last for a few hours to a few months, depending on the police.
Death in Detention.
Between 1963 and 1990, at least 73 political activists are known to have died in detention in apartheid South Africa. Between 1970 and 1990, eight political activists are known to have died during or as a result of their detention in John Vorster Square.
Chris van Wyk wrote a protest poem called "In Detention" that is based on the excuses the police gave the political activists when they died due to torture and severe beatings.