SMC Discloses November 15 Plans, War Protestors Will Rally Twice

Members of the Boston Student Mobilization Committee (SMC) last night disclosed plans for two separate demonstrations during the massive Nov. 15 anti-war march on Washington.

Returning from a conference of 150 SMC leaders in Washington, they said the major rally will begin at noon on Saturday, November 15 in the Mall directly facing the Capitol building. Marchers will move down Pennsylvania Avenue, circle in front of the White House, and reassemble in a park behind it for speeches beginning at 5 p.m.

At midnight on November 13 a two-day vigil walk, called "The March Against Death." will begin in Arlington National Cemetery.

Throughout the night and the following day. marchers will move single-file past the White House, carrying placards with the names of Americans killed in Vietnam and villages destroyed. Placards will be taken to the Capitol and placed in a coffin which will then be set in front of the White House before the major march begins.

Although parade permits have not yet been granted, Alex Chis, an SMC spokesman, said he expected little trouble obtaining them.

"This will be a massive, non-violent, peaceful, legal demonstration," another SMC spokesman, George Kantanis stated, denying allegations that the march might turn into a violent protest.

Speaking at a press conference at M.I.T., local SMC leaders said the March will be preceded on November 14 by a nation-wide student strike on Nov. 14, aimed at "shutting down" most colleges and high schools in the country. Petitions for the shut-down are now being circulated in Boston schools, but SMC leaders said they have received no responses from area colleges or high schools.

The March on Washington is sponsored by the New Mobilization Committee, aa coalition of over 200 different organizations, but the SMC is considered the main organizer of the Washington protest.

Of he 500,000 people expected to descend on Washington for the march, Chis said that close to 50,000 would come from the Boston area.

"Five hundred thousand is a lot of people." Chis said. "Let's face it, greater Boston will have to provide ten per cent of that."

Mass Movement

The New Mobilization Committee has chartered one train from Boston, one from New Haven, and two from New York to transport some of the students. However, each train will carry only 1500 students. Chartered busses will take another 15,000 from the Boston area, but only in time for the Saturday march.