Faneuil Hall Rally Urges Support of MPLA In Angola

A coalition of local political organizations staged a rally in Boston's Faneuil Hall Saturday afternoon to urge support for the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), one of three factions engaged in the civil war in the African nation.

Commemoration

The Angola Solidarity Coalition sponsored the rally, one of several pro-MPLA demonstrations held nationwide Saturday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the liberation movement's 1956 founding.

About 400 demonstrators assembled at the Boston Common before the rally and then marched along Tremont St. and through Government Center to the historic hall.

The demonstrators bore placards denouncing the involvement of the United States and South Africa in the civil war. One such placard read: "Down With U.S. Puppets, FNLA and UNITA! Support the MPLA!," a reference to the two other factions in Angola, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

Harvard students representing the Organization for the Solidarity of Third World Students and the New American Movement, one of the organizations forming the coalition, participated in the rally.