Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / May 4, 1971, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
""" " j lmm n , : i i f 0L2 3 'U ! : t i 79 Tears of Editorial Freedom Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Tuesday, May 4, 1971 Vol. 79, No. 53 Founded February 23, 1833 iff I r . fT XT f 1 I 1 r- 0 . n n V A f Frotesters I agents arrest Rennie tail 0 smp FB 'pvernment; avis V xs . 1 .. - ; " j , -.- " i t '--, til j" -- f i j ' - f ' -. A fc-" ' f : . -. . - ; - '.: This protester, blood running just beneath his left eye, was one of 7 ,000 arrested hi Washington, D.C. Monday. The police left him handcuffed to this post while waiting for a van to come pick him up. (Staff photo by John Gellman) to stop the government cam by Evans Witt Staff Writer Thousands of demonstrators trickled into pre-dawn darkness in Washington, D.C, Monday morning in an attempt to stop traffic and the mechanics of Federal Government. Those who had spent the night in university buildings, churches or wherever there was room moved out to their prospective targets to force the government to set a date for withdrawal of all U.S. troops in Vietnam. A large number of demonstrators spent the night, or some part of it, in the halls of the administration building of Georgetown University. Those who had come from Chapel Hill and the rest of North Carolina were scheduled to be part of a group blocking the Virginia end of Key Bridge at Roslyn Circle in Arlington. In meetings, late Sunday night and early Monday morning students from the University and Chapel Hill area decided to move to the other side of the Potomac River and help stop traffic from the Washington side. r L W((ilk(?jT TODAY: clear and cold with highs in the lower 60,s; near zero chance of rain today through tonight; lows tonight in the lower 30V WEDNESDAY: sunny and warmer with highs in the upper 60V They moved from a Unitarian church in Virginia to Georgetown in preparation for disruption attempts. (Late Sunday night, the police, who had been so conspicuously present on every block, were not to be seen. Every few blocks command jeeps from the Army or Marine units, flown into the city to help control the disruptions, could be seen. By the time demonstrators had caught a few brief hours of sleep and had eaten breakfast of coffee and oatmeal, policemen with motorcycles, motorscooters, detention vans, cars and helicopters were spread throughout the capital. As each of the groups, organized or not, attempted to block the target intersections and bridges, police moved with tear gas or very effective motorvehicle tactics and cleared the intersections. The casualties of the demonstrations began early. A policeman received a head injury in the first 15 minutes of the disruptions. Demonstrators suffered the effects of tear gas in addition to bruises and broken bones from confrontations with motorcycles. Police were able to move demonstrators from their x positions on roads by driving into the standing or sitting people with motorcycles and scooters. The demonstrators almost always moved. As demonstrators discovered at 7:15 a.m. they could not block their major targets after one hour's attempts, they moved to other streets and began blocking them with any possible means. From UPI wire reports W A S H I NGTON Young demonstra tors tried to cripple the government's "war machine" by snarling rush hour traffic Monday, but police backed by Army troops and Marines defeated their guerrilla tactics with heavy barrages of tear gas and more than 7,000 arrests. Rennie Davis, a leader of the traffic-disrupting antiwar protest, was arrested Monday by FBI agents after police and regular Army troops had broken up the demonstrations. As the protesters waded into streams of cars carrying federal workers across bridges and down main streets of the capital, helmeted police moved swiftly to repulse them with the aid of up to 10,000 combat ready soldiers stationed in or around the city. It was the greatest show of force since the riots that shook Washington following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., in 1968 and opened a third, more militant week of demonstrations for early U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. Tom Denyer, a UNC political science graduate student, said Monday evening he didn't think too many of the UNC contingent had been arrested. "We just don't know how many people from Chapel Hill have been arrested," said Denyer. "Most of our group left for home today, though. "The tactics to stop the government haven't worked at all," continued Denyer. "The police used gas immediatelycracked heads immediately , and just stopped us. They didn't mess, around. They used massive force liberally. "The government would just not let the protesters do the nonviolence thing." to DoGo The much-publicized tactic of "junking" cars in the middle of streets was used but soon changed. Cars parked alongside of streets, especially in Georgetown, were rolled into the street to block traffic with tires deflated. - . Trash cans, road signs, bricks, barbed wire, and even a potted tree were dragged or thrown into the streets to stop or slow down traffic. The tactics had limited success as people who were not demonstrating or who did not agree with this "trashing" usually removed the debris fairly quickly. As the morning grew older, demonstrators moved away from bridges to Virginia and downtown intersections where traffic from Maryland would have to enter the city. Traffic circles north of the White House Dupont and Washington Circles were the scenes of numerous confrontations and tear gassings. As the groups of demonstrators grew in size at downtown intersections, the use of tear gas became more frequent. Many businessmen and secretaries on their way to work were caught in the frequent barrages of tear gas which were used to clear such areas as K Street and Connecticut Avenue. By 11 a.m. more than 7,000 demonstrators had been arrested. Georgetown, M and K Streets and other scenes of attempted disruptions were quiet. Students and other demonstrators had returned to places of relative safety to await today, -another day planned for disruptions. President Nixon, who was returning to Washington Monday evening after' a weekend at the Western White House in San Qemente, Cal., was reported to have "concurred with the action" taken against the protesters. Presidential press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler told reporters that Nixon was kept informed of the activity by Washington Police Chief Jerry V. Wilson . Wilson said the President Wanted the city kept "open for business." : But the protesters, who were ousted at dawn Sunday from the sprawling campsite they had planned to use as a base for their offensive, generally were nonviolent and offered little resistance to police as they were arrested. Tear gas fumes filled the air over some of the city's most famous monuments, streets and grassy flowered parks. Garbage cans, trash, abandoned automobiles and other obstacles littered some chief arteries. i In some cases, demonstrators threw big tree stumps, rocks, broken glass and nails on roads to try to halt traffic. They also overturned some cars and slashed some motorists' tires. " A few motorists reacted by getting out and fighting the protesters and nearly everybody started for work at least a little early. I By noon, street traffic was virtually normal and those protesters still at large roamed around in small groups, making it impossible to estimate how many would be available for a second scheduled round of tie-ups Tuesday. Leaders of the May Day Tribe, which sponsored the action, claimed partial success but acknowledged their failure to "stop the government." They predicted that "tomorrow well be more together." The mass arrests, which began about daybreak, enabled most federal employes " '" - 4; - K v to reach their desks without too much trouble, but they overwhelmed judicial and correctional authorities. More than 1 ,000 protesters had to be herded into a fenced practice football field next to Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, which one police captain termed 4tthe last facility left." Hundreds of deputy U.S. marshals and prison guards were brought in to help maintain security and process . the demonstrators in court, where the majority faced charges of unlawful assembly. The main targets of the protest were the four big bridges across the Potomac River linking Washington with Virginia and the major roads used by commuters coming in from suburban Maryland. The posh Georgetown section of the city was a critical point and thousands of protesters massed there throughout the morning while countless others gathered at the 14th Street Bridge as six helicopters loaded with battle-garbed Marines landed at the nearby Washington Monument. As other surveillance 'copters hovered over the city, the first confrontation occurred at the 14th Street Bridge, busiest of the four. Police fired off a heavy barrage of tear gas there to beat back a group of several hundred demonstrators led by Dr. Benjamin Spock, the noted pediatrician and a well-known war dissenter. The contingent succeeded in clogging traffic for about seven minutes. The confrontations in Georgetown, chiefly along M Street, were more prolonged. When tear gas was used, to disperse a huge crowd, rocks and bottles came flying from some of the long-haired youths and it took several hours before police fully cleared the area. Another major trouble spot was Du Pont Circle, like Georgetown a favorite gathering point for the city's hippie population. The Pentagon announced that about 6,250 troops took up positions at various key points in the city in what it described as Task Force Potomac." Officials said a reserve force of 3,750 Marines and other soldiers was on hand if needed all were under the command of Lt. Gen. John H. Hay Jr., who normally is commander of the 1 Sth Airborne Corps at Ft. Bragg, N.C. One Marine contingent was dispatched to the Justice Department, where Attorney General John N. Mitchell kept a close watch on events. One group of about 100 demonstrators stood at a corner of Pennsylvania Avenue chanting "One, two, three, four-we don't want you f war." A black woman walking by looked at the bizarrely clad group and called over: "One, two, three, four-go home and take a bath." Davis, a defendant in the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial that grew out of the tumultuous Democratic National Convention there in 1968, was picked up by agents just a few blocks north of the White House. Davis was charged under the so-called Ku Klux Klan law which prohibits conspiring to interfere with another person's civil rights. He also was accused of physically trying to keep federal workers form going to their jobs. For a time, it was reported that David Dellinger, another Chicago Seven defendant; also had been, charged under similar laws, but the FBI said this was not the case. An FBI spokesman confirmed that Davis had been taken into custody. t fj if vn 5! I M : I ' 4 I i rv -f- L 2 - I .' V i 7 " Approximately 40 protesters block traffice on M street in ' the early morning hours in Washington Monday. Seconds after ; this photo was taken, motorcycle police moved in to clear the street, one of the major arteries into the nation's capital. (Staff photo by John Gellman) Volteirs sil. mem today Mayor Howard Lee seeks his second term in office in today's Chapel Hill elections. Four aldermen will also be chosen. Lee is challenged by John Fox, Douglas Holmes and Jack Maultsby. Incumbent aldermen seeking re-election are Steve. Bernholz, Joe Nassif, R.D. Smith and Alice Welsh. Challengers are Jim Crisp, Jim Labrec and Jim Wallace. Carrboro voters will also go to the polls today. Aldermen Robert Wells and Jim Cash well are running for the mayor's office, left, vacant by Mayor Hughes Lloyd who will not seek re-election. Robert Oakes, the only incumbent running for alderman, is challenged by Fred Chamb lee, Boyd Ellington, James Howard, Michael Pace, Donald Penninger, Mary Riggsbee, J.H. Robertson, Starnes Weaver. Douglas Woods and Fred Wright. Polls in both elections will open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 6:30 p.m. Town Clerk Dave Roberts predicted Friday a light voter turn-out in Chapel Hill. He said he expected a vote of between 2,500 and 3,000. This would be a change from the 1969 elections when a record 4.700 went to the polls. Lee, the first black to be elected mayor of a predominantly white Southern town since Reconstruction, won by a 400-vote margin over Roland Giduz. The precincts and polling places in Chapel Hill are: Northside Precinct, Fire; Station no. 1; East Franklin Precinct, Chapel i Hill Public Library; Estes Hills Precinct, Guy IB. Phillips Jr. High School; West wood Precinct, Lincoln School; Country Club Precinct, Woollen' Gymnasium; Ridgefield Precinct, Ridge field Townhouse Apartments office; Kings Mill Precinct, Barrett's Garage; Glen wood Precinct, Glen wood School. Lee, 36, was appointed State Democratic Party Vice Chairman for Minority Affairs last December. The director of teaching an&employe education at Duke University received ia B.A. degree in sociology at Fort Valley State College in Georgia and a master of social work at UNC. John Fox, 26, is a UNC student in chemistry. He sells candles on Franklin Street. Douglas Homes, a third-year UNC law student, has said he will resign immediately if elected. Jack Maultsby, 40, is a co-owner of the Farm House Restaurant of Ch3pel Hill and is a field representative for Riddell Inc. he is a UNC graduate with a degree in physical education and is a member of the Chapel HiU-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce. The Carrboro town clerk's office expects a heavy voter turnout. Polling places are Carrboro Elementary School for the North Carrboro Precinct and Town Hall for the South Carrboro Precinct. Jim Cashweil, 46, is an employe of Liggett and Myers, Inc. in Durham. He has served for two years on the Carrboro Town board and is now Mayor Pro-Tern. Cashweil has served on the Law and Finance Committee, the Orange County Council of Govern en t, the Transportation Commission and is an ex -officio member of the Carrboro Recreation Commission. Robert Wells, 41, is manager of Carrboro American Service Center. He has served on the Town Board for 10 months. He is vice-chairman of the Carrboro Housing Authority.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 4, 1971, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75