A NAC meeting was held outside Blantyre on 25 January. It was alleged that the meeting discussed in detail a plan for the overthrow of the territorial government and the massacre of the territory's whites and any blacks who collaborated with them. (although a subsequent Royal Commission found there was insufficient evidence to make such a claim). Welensky obtained the meeting's proceedings in early February and decided to act, calling a meeting of the federal and territorial governments. Federal troops were deployed to Nyasaland on 21 February, the Governor of Nyasaland proclaimed a state of emergency on 3 March and the nationalist leaders were arrested and flown to jails in Southern Rhodesia. In the subsequent fortnight, riots broke out and troops used force to end the violence. Almost 50 people died in the unrest.