Cleaver Doesn't Show Up At Rally In Boston Common

2000 people gathered on the Boston Common last night to hear Peace and Freedom presidential candidate Eldridge Cleaver, but Cleaver wasn't there.

Cleaver, who is Minister of Information of the militant Black Panther Party, was forced to stay in New York under the terms of his bail set in Oakland, California. He is awaiting trial there on firearms charges.

Black Panther leader Billy Seal, standing in for Cleaver last night, urged support for last-minute efforts to put Cleaver's name on the presidential ballot in Massachusetts. The deadline for signatures on nominating papers is this afternoon.

Calling for militant opposition to racial oppression in America, Seal said, "If we can get people a million strong to stop Lyndon Johnson from running for President, and a million strong against the war in Vietnam, then, God damn it, we can get a million strong to march against the war being waged against black people."

Several speakers at the two-hour rally urged continued resistance to the midnight curfew which has been imposed on the Common by Mayor White. Over 80 people have been arrested in the last two nights for curfew violations.