Protesters defy court order

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32589, 24 April 1971, Page 20

Protesters defy court order

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, April 22.

Fifteen hundred Vietnam war veterans defied the Washington authorities last night, refusing to budge from a public park near the Houses of Congress where they were protesting against the war.

A tense situation developed late at night after the demonstrators had voted to ignore a Supreme Court order that thgy must pack their belongings and leave. Policemen stationed nearby however, made no move to evict the veterans from the Mall, a broad ribbon of green extending two miles from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.

The Supreme Court order ended a dispute over the veteran’s right to remain in the park overnight. The Court ruled that the men, marching under the banner, “Vietnam veterans against the war,” could use the Mall as a demonstration site only during daylight hours, that they could remain there at night only if there were no tents, no camp-fires, no lying down on bed-rolls, and no sleeping. The veterans, all clad in Army battledress and many wearing medal ribbons, decided to ignore the order; they voted to let themselves be arrested peacefully, and said that they would march away in prisoner-of-war fashion, with their hands on their heads.

Sympathetic Congressmen had been urging the Government either to allow the men to stay or help them to find an alternative site. Some

had offered their offices as accommodation.

The veterans’ Congressional supporters were as anxious as the authorities to avoid any confrontation that might increase the chance of violence during next weekend, when about 100,000 people are expected to take part in a protest march against the war.