Demonstration

one, however, had been padlocked in advance, and the numbers of demonstrators sitting in before other entrances dwindled during the day.

The remainder of the marchers sat down in the street in front of the JFK main entrance. In addition, demonstrators from the City Hall side of the building joined this group to form briefly a solid semicircle around the front of the building.

Police immediately moved forward and, throwing the demonstrators aside like sacks of meal, extended their corridor across Cambridge St. to Center Plaza. Police held this corridor for the remainder of the demonstration and employees on their way to work passed freely through.

No demonstrators were arrested during this first move, and police obviously tried to keep the arrest total low throughout the day.

Federal Demonstrators

At 9:30 a. m., about 40 Federal employees carrying antiwar signs and waving their pink Federal identification cards marched to the front of the police lines and sought to enter the building. City Attorney John Fisk told them they could not enter unless they surrendered their placards and went in one by one.

The group decided instead to form a mobile picket line which drew cheers from other demonstrators throughout the day as it made its way around the building.

Early in the day the demonstrators settled down to a pattern of sporadic scuffles at points in the line where Federal employees seeking to go to work attempted to push their way through. When employees encountered resistance or had difficulty passing through the seated demonstrators, police would often seize several protesters in the vicinity, drag them bodily by the hair or clothing into the JFK Building and charge them with disorderly conduct.

In addition, there were two major police sweeps into the crowd which netted the majority of the arrests and produced the only incidents of police violence. The first came shortly afternoon, when a group of 200 police suddenly swept from the corridor they had cleared earlier toward the intersection of Sudbury and Cambridge Sts., flailing their riot batons and dragging, shoving and kicking the unresisting protesters out of their path.

About 30 arrests were made and at least two demonstrators were beaten unconscious, while others were shoved against buses and trucks. When medics attempted to treat one unconscious youth, police told them he was under arrest and dragged his limp body away.

The second and most massive sweep occurred at about 2:20 p. m. when Blair read a warning to the demonstrators remaining in Cambridge St. that they would be arrested if they did not move. Immediately after he stopped speaking, 350 policemen charged the group from all sides, wielding their clubs freely. About 15 people were arrested as police chased the crowd three blocks up Tremont St.

Destroying Evidence

Some policemen at this point seized a news, photographer's exposed film and destroyed a reporter's notebook as newsmen attempted to keep up with the charge.

After the sweep, a group of demonstration organizers, including Arthur Fink, teaching fellow in General Education, negotiated an early end to the demonstration with Fisk, who granted a permit for a brief rally on the Common at 4 p. m.

The crowd assembled and marched rapidly down Tremont St., chanting. Demonstrators rallied briefly on the Common in a jubilant mood. "Business did not go on at the Federal Building today." said one speaker. "and we're going to be back there very soon."