Disturbance In Gallery

Press, Volume C, Issue 29684, 30 November 1961, Page 17

Disturbance In Gallery

(N Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) NEW YORK November 28. Mr Lewis Sowden, a journalist on the staff of the “Rand Daily Mail,” was escorted off the United Nations premises by security guards tonight after Interrupting a statement in the General Assembly by the South African Foreign Minister (Mr Eric Louw). Mr Sowden was in the press gallery : n the assembly hall lor the debate on South African apartheid policies. During Mr Louw’s statement he shouted: “Do not believe him. He is telling half-truths. He always has.” Guards moved in swiftly and hustled Mr Sowden out of the gallery and outside the hall. They insisted that he leave the headquarters enclave, and escorted him to an exit. Mr Sowden, who is in the United States on a ( State Department grant and is working on a newspaper tn New Jersey, told journalistic colleagues afterwards: “They are ordering me off the premises.” He repeated to them what he said he had shouted in the gallery. His words had been indistinct at the time. Plain clothes officers surrounded Mr Sowden as he came into the press area on his way to leave the headquarters.