1500 Join Brookline Protest In Support of Russian Jewry

About 1500 people rallied at Cleveland Circle Park in Brookline Saturday night to demonstrate their solidarity with Soviet Jewry and to protest the refusal of the Soviet government to allow Jews total freedom to emigrate.

The Soviet Jewry Action Committee of the Boston Jewish Community Council organized the rally.

The speakers included Gov. Francis W. Sargent, his opponent for re-election, Democratic candidate Michael S. Dukakis, Boston College professor Yuri Glazov, a recent immigrant from the Soviet Union and Shimson Inbal, Consul-General of Israel in Boston.

Inbal said the rally demonstrated that "the Jewish people throughout the world is still one." He said the protestors had an obligation to tell the world "that in the cradle of totalitarianism, the Soviet Union, Jews are struggling to throw off their shackles and rejoin the mainstream of world Jewry."

Public Pressure Needed

Glazov told the gathering "Only external public pressure can rescue Soviet Jews from slavery."

Sargent expressed his support for the Jackson-Vanik amendment, legislation passed by the Congress which would deny the U.S. government the right to grant "Most Favored Nation" trade status to the Soviet Union unless the U.S.S.R. agrees to permit free emigration of its citizens.

Sen. Jackson (D-Wash.) and Rep. Vanik (D-Ind.) have acknowledged that they will withdraw the amendment if the Ford administration wins a guarantee from the Soviet Union that a substantial number of Jews will be permitted to leave each year.

Negotiations Stalled

The negotiations between the State Department and Moscow on the question of Soviet Jewry formerly thought to be progressing have actually been unsuccessful, according to recent reports.

The number of Jews being allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union to Israel has declined significantly during the past year, according to Israeli government statistics.

Figures for the first four months of 1974 show a reduction of 25 per cent compared with corresponding months in 1973.