Protests Erupt Over Invasion of Laos

Students across the country reacted to the Allied invasion of Laos yesterday, demanding the immediate end of the expanding Southeast Asian war. It was the first resurgence of militant antiwar activity since last May.

The demonstrations were apparently a response to the pleas of Nguyen Thi Binh, Chief delegate at Paris for the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, for all opposed to the war to "take actions now that could check the plan for even greater escalation."

5000 Marchers

In Boston, three local marches converged on the Boston Commons, where about 5000 persons listened to speeches and shivered in the shadow of the Statehouse. The rally, organized by local women, began at 3:45 p. m. with a speech by Joe Miles, a G. I. organizer with the Student Mobilization Committee.

Miles told the crowd that "the number one supporters of the antiwar movement are American G. I.'s. We are serving notice to the warmakers: As long as there is one soldier in Vietnam, we're going to reach out and fight."

In an attempt to make it "a rally without celebrities, a group of anonymous women read speeches that had been prepared by collective groups.

The rally closed with a proclamation: "We the people of Massachusetts declare ourselves to be at peace with the Vietnamese people." Police refused to allow the women leading the march to pass through the iron gates up the steps to the Statehouse, where they had planned to post their proclamation.

The march was scheduled to move to Copley Square. The column yipped and whooped down Tremont Street, then down Boylston past riot police spaced more and more closely together. Lord and Taylors and the offices of New England Life Insurance were spray painted.

At Northeastern several marchers tried to break down the fence outside the ROTC building and interfered with trollies and cars, especially large luxury cars.

At 5 p. m. the demonstrators on the corner of Hemenway and Huntington across from the ROTC building began throwing rocks and bottles at police cars. One rock shattered the window of a passing police car, apparently injuring a policeman riding in the front seat.

Because the crowd never stayed in one spot for more than a few minutes,the police were unable to assemble in large force.

Soon after the demonstrators arrived at Kenmore Square, police drove them out. At 6:10 p. m. the marchers were dispersed, and only about 400 spectators stood on the side walks in Kenmore Square looking at about 20 police cars and paddy wagons in the square with their blue lights flashing. Police reported 16 arrests.

Around the country there were protests. In Berkeley, 2000 demonstrators were met by police with rifles. One policeman was isolated in the crowd when he tried to retrieve a nightstick that had been stolen. He was severely beaten, and was treated for lacerations. Police charged the crowd, which fled, and later burned an AEC official's car.

At Stanford 200 demonstrators occupied the Campus Computer Center and shut it down for three hours. They were dispersed by 80 County Sheriffs.

In Baltimore, demonstrators marched on a Federal office building. Windows were broken, and several police were injured. At the University of Wisconsin, on strike yesterday, workshops were held in the Social Sciences Building which had been converted into a center for antiwar activity.

According to the National Students Association national office, there were at least seven schools planning to strike today, and at least twenty major demonstrations yesterday.

In Cambridge, a newly formed national coalition of labor unions and students issued a statement condemning the Allied invasion of Laos. (The text of the statement will be printed in tomorrow's CRIMSON.)

The alliance, which will be a nation-wide labor-student group, had its first organizational meeting yesterday. Representatives included Ralph Nader, the presidents of the UAW, the NSA, and the American Federation of Teachers, and Prof. George Wald.