1500 Radicals March In Downtown Boston To Support Panthers

About 1500 radical demonstrators marched through downtown Boston yesterday before rallying in front of the Boston Police Headquarters to protest the trials of Black Panther leader Bobby Seal and other Panther leaders around the country.

Seale, chairman of the Black Panther Party, goes on trial in New Haven, Conn. later this year for murder and conspiracy to murder.

The marchers walked peacefully and leisurely from Post Office Square along Boston Common and down Boylston Street to police headquarters.

Shouting "Free Bobby" and "Into the Streets, On to the Jail, People's Power, Panthers Bail," the marchers wound their way past stunned late afternoon shoppers urging bystanders to "Join Us, the Revolution has come."

At the Berkeley Street police headquarters, the marchers rallied for 30 minutes to hear several speakers-including Howard Zinn, Boston University professor of Government-then marched back down Berkeley Street and broke up.

"With Us or Against Us"

Artic Seale, wife of Bobby Seale, told the predominantly white student crowd at Post Office Square "when the revolution comes, either you are with us or against us. You've got to decide which side you're on," she said.

"Students want to talk social action and students want to demonstrate," Douglas Miranda, another Black Panther official, said. "You people come down here to march, but the time has come to pick up the gun."

"You don't defeat the pig by getting down here 1000 strong for a rally, you defeat him by getting down in the back alley," he added. "Taking over a building ain't revolutionary. We're tired of that shit."

Scattered incidents of "trashing" -window smashing and rock throwing-occurred along Commonwealth Avenue near Kenmore Square while the demonstrators were breaking up.

Window-Breaking

About 300 people marched behind a sound truck through Kenmore Square breaking windows in the National Cash Register building and two banks.

But the majority of the marchers agreed to return home to organize radicals for another, more militant protest today after the anti-war rally on the Boston Common.

Police arrested Robert S. Wooten, 26, during the police headquarters rally for attempting to take down the American flag outside the building. He was charged with disturbing the peace.

The incident brought a squad of 20 police officers streaming out of the headquarters, but march leaders quickly quieted the chanting crowd without police intervention.