Page 30 - Demo

Page Six, PHOENIX|M a r c h e r s p a r a d e d o w n S e v e n th A v e . S a tu r d a y in S lo p eP H O E N IX P h o to b y L y n n e G rifoSlope Turns Out for Peace MarchBY LYNNE GRIFOPark Slope residents joined their neighbors and took to the streets last Saturday to protest against United States involvement in Vietnam. What seemed, at first, to be a limited turnout grew slowly to considerable size as the marchers gathered in front of P.S. 321 on Seventh Ave. and First St. Parents with their young children and men and women of all ages took part in the 30-block march that followed a course along Seventh and Fifth Aves., between First and 14th Sts.The demonstration was organized by the Park Slope People Against the War who recruited marshals that led the participants and kept the crowd moving and orderly. A police patrol car cleared a path through the traffic while a number of other policemen held up cars along the side streets until the marchers had gone past. Many of the 300 or so marchers carried signs or banners lettered with such slogans as %u201c Stop the Genocide,%u201d and %u201c Halt the Bombing.%u201d One young man, about five years old, had a sign reading %u201c Solidarity with the Vietnamese children%u201d tied to his shoulders. People with loud speakers led the crowd in shants of %u201c Nixon%u2019s a liar %u2014 sign the ceasefire%u201d and in antiwar songs that declared%u201d ...people of America are taking a stand, we say no more to this war...%u201d The shouts were strong and manypeople along the route of the demonstration stopped to watch it go past. They were handed literature about the Jan. 20 demonstration in Washington and their reactions varied from warm support to mild indifference and strong disgust.The organizers of the march had a two-fold purpose in mind as Jack Johnson, a member of PSPAW, explained: to call attention to the fact that many people are strongly opposed to the Indochina war and to urge everyone who can to join their neighbors in Washington on Jan. 20; to strengthen local opposition to the expansion of Methodist Hospital and to highlight the demand for community control over hospital decisions that effect medical services and deprive neighborhood people of their homes.%u201c We%u2019re trying to put a thorn in the side of the elephant, a sharp one,%u201d said Stan Kapmer of Garfield PI., Rosemary Macuras of Lincoln PI. expressed the hope that %u2019%u2019..this demonstration can give encouragement to other people who are still unsure about their stand on the war.%u201d In response to a question about the Paris peace talks Katherine Ferrara, who lives on 7th St., said, %u201c Although some people are still hopeful that the talks will result in a settlement, I doubt it. Kissinger%u2019s smiles don%u2019t impress me.%u201d Dennis Kamemsky, a PSPAW member, said, %u201c We%u2019rehere to talk to neighborhood people and relate the war to other issues such as racism, attacks on students, the exploitation of workers and the effects of government budget cuts on social welfare programs.%u201d One marcher, David Wall of Montgomery PI. remarked about the sincerity and enthusiasm shown by the demonstrators. %u201c These are the people that haven%u2019t lost their senses,%u201d he said.As the group reached Ninth St. and Fifth Ave., a stop was made to allow the members of a guerilla theatre, dressed as Vietnamese civilians with their faces painted white, to pantomime the effects of the U.S. bombing. The members fell to the ground as a man wearing a mask, a likeness of President Nixon, passed by them holding aloft a cardboard B-52. The only disruption to occur throughout the entire march happened at that point. A tall man of about 30 years of age ran up to the actor with the Nixon mask and threw him roughly to the ground. Almost immediately the police disentangled the two and pushed the man, who was yelling and swearing, back to the sidewalk as the march continued on.At 14th St. the protestors were joined by a caravan of 10 cars, including one equipped with a sound system. The cars were part of a mobile peace demonstration organized by residents of many Brooklyn communities called theBrooklyn End the War Committee. They too had been engaged in antiwar activities that morning, holding rallies and distributing literature throughout the borough.The group reached St. John%u2019s on St. John%u2019s PI. at 3 p.m. and many of the marchers went in to hear speeches by Susan Schanll ofMedical Aid to Indochina, Ivan Braun and Farell Levy of PSPAW, Dot Rubin of the Park Slope Neighborhood Tenants Council, and Louis Cabrero of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Union.Anyone wishing further information about PSPAW or the Jan. 20 demonstration is advised to phone 768-3959.The Independent Neighborhood Democratsurge everyone to come down to Washington, D.C. oiJanuary 20th to demonstrate fo r Peace in Indoch in a and ag ain st President Nixon's freezing ofHousing, Day C are, H ealth and W ater Pollutionm onies,%u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605Joseph Bruno, PresidentEileen Dugan, Chairwoman