The Portuguese decision to effect a transfer to power to FRELIMO, without a local referendum or elections, was greeted with intense trepidation by Portugal's traditional Cold War allies: South Africa, Rhodesia, and the United States. The US government predicted that an independent Mozambique under the direction of FRELIMO would be heavily influenced by the Soviet bloc. Black opposition movements in South Africa declared that they would bring FRELIMO officials to address rallies being held near Durban, Johannesburg, and at the University of Northern Transvaal. The South African authorities banned the demonstrations, but activists proceeded anyway in defiance of the police. By the end of the year, sixty people had been arrested for organising pro-FRELIMO rallies.