Police Raid Sit-In at Dawn; 250 Arrested, Dozens Injured

More than 400 policeman charged University Hall early this morning and forcibly--and sometimes violently--removed several hundred students who were occupying the building.

Between 250 and 300 people were arrested in the raid, and nearly 75 students were injured.

The arrested students were taken in police paddy wagons and buses directly to district courts in Cambridge.

President Pusey said this morning that the decision to call in police to clear the building came out of the meeting which began yesterday afternoon and ended about 10 p.m. last night. Besides himself, the deans of the Graduate Schools, Deans Ford and Glimp, and other Administration officials were in attendance. "It became clear in the course of the evening that the only possible alternative [to calling in police] was to take no action at all," he said.

An hour before the raid, more than 100 policemen from local suburban forces gathered behind Memorial Hall. There were officers and paddy wagons from Cambridge, Boston, Newton, Somerville, Arlington, Watertown, and the Metropolitan District Commission.

All of the officers had storm helmets, most had gas masks. Patrolmen from Somerville carried large metal shields, and several from other forces carried rifles.

At 4:30, the patrolmen were ordered inside of Memorial Hall to receive instructions. Fifteen minutes later, the police formed a long double line at the west door of Mem Hall. Shortly before five, an officer gave the order to march, and the people marched into the Yard behind the buses carrying State Police.

The police buses and cars parked in the Yard between Widener and Memorial Church, while Cambridge and Boston Police marched into the Yard from the Memorial Church gate.

The suburban police forced about two hundred students away from all four doors of University Hall in several quick thrusts. At that time a number of students were clubbed and thrown from the University Hall steps.

After the doors were cleared the police charged students who were standing on the steps of Thayer Hall. About ten Somerville Police charged into the building with shields and riot sticks. During that charge, several policemen pushed Timothy H. S. Venn '72 from his wheelchair onto the cement.

State Police then formed lines on the Massachusetts Hall side of the University Hall, and on a signal, charged first the north door, then the south.

Starting at about 5:05, about 75 State Police entered University Hall, and began dragging demonstrators out of the building.

The people inside University Hall first heard rumors about the bust at 3:40 a.m. For the next hour, people woke up and milled around the first floor, where they had earlier agreed to make their non-violent stand against the police. They sang radical songs, received wet pieces of linen and instructions for their use against tear gas, and the phone numbers of lawyers who had agreed to defend those arrested.

At 4:58 a student rushed in and screamed the "Cops are coming." A moment later the shining blue helmets of the Massachusetts State Police could be seen through the windows. The demonstrators linked arms and started to chant, "Smash ROTC, no expansion."

At 5:05 Dean Glimp, standing outside the Hall with a portable megaphone, said, "You have fine minutes to vacate the building." His voice was not audible inside.

At 5:06 Jared Israel '67 shouted, "People have come down from the Houses, and are fighting them from the other side." The crowd roared, unaware that the fighting outside was actually over and the State Police were just waiting, lined up outside.

A minute later the police came in.

They pushed the people back away from the door with their clubs and several people were knocked down and kicked. The troopers rushed up the stairs, pushing down some of the people standing there.

CRIMSON reporter David I. Bruck '70 was standing on the landing of the steps overlooking the southern first-floor corridor when the troopers came in. When they rushed up the stairs, the troopers took him, CRIMSON photographer Timothy Carlson '71, and Boston Globe reporter Parker Donham '69 up to the second floor Faculty Room. They were arrested even after showing press identification.

Bruck reported from the Court House early this morning. He said that the troopers broke down the first-floor doors with a three-foot battering ram. He said that the troopers pushed the demonstrators up front and then beat several of them with clubs.

The troopers took the reporters upstairs and refused to let them look out the windows.

Several people were thrown bodily from the corridor into the anteroom of the Freshman Dean's office.

Richard E. Hyland '69-3, who chaired the meetings inside during the occupation, was driven into the room screaming with troopers clubbing his body.

A short brown-haired girl was hurled against the room's wooden divider and a trooper shouted, "If you don't stay there I'll break your fuckin head."

Then a sharp crack rang out and blood spurted from the head of Robert Miller, a staff member of the New England Free Press. Several students inside had been blinded by a spray and were clutching their eyes.

The troopers herded the people out of the anteroom, jabbing some in the back with clubs, shouting "Faster, faster." Several were pushed part-way down the stairs and the group was taken to paddy wagons.

Meanwhile, outside the building, groups of police repeatedly charged students standing in the Old Yard, forcing them back into Thayer, Weld, and Matthews Halls. During these charges several people were injured, including a Life magazine reporter, who suffered a gash across the forehead. One student had a billy club broken over his head, after being repeatedly beaten while he was lying on the ground.

Another student was pulled from Weld Hall, and arrested after he had attempted to retreive his glasses from across the police lines.

The crowd of about 500 students in the Yard chanted, "Pusey Must Go," "Strike, Strike," and "Close the Place Down."

By 5:15, police had started to load students from inside the building onto buses and paddy wagons. Some resisted and were dragged and shoved into the buses. Within ten minutes, the buses had been filled with about 300 to 400 students, and they left for Middlesex County Third District Court where the students were booked on charges of criminal trespassing.

Police slowly cleared students from the rest of the yard. At 6 a.m., the State Police marched back to their buses and left.

During the raid, a number of the surburban police wore no badges. A Somerville police officer said that his men had been instructed to remove their badges during the period of the raid.

One University policeman circulated through the crowd of students apologizing for the police action and urging students not to confront the police.

"As far as University Police are concerned, we didn't want to do anything about it," he said. "But they're way over our heads now."

While only suburban police remained in the building, Charles P. Whitlock, assistant to the President for Civic and Governmental Relations, walked through University Hall. He said afterwards that "It was pretty messey, but there was no vandalism."

Bernard G. Bradley, a Massachusetts public defender, about five assistants, and about fifteen law students are defending the students who were arrested. About 200 demonstrators are being arraigned at the Third District Court of Middlesex County, and another 100 at the Superior Court across the street.

Almost all those arrested are being held on charges of criminal trespass, which carries a maximum fine of $25 and no imprisonment. Several demonstrators are being charged with assault and battery for reportedly injuring police. One student is charged with larceny of person. Witnesses said he had reached across police lines to retrieve his glasses when he was arrested.

Bradley is urging them all to plead not guilty, but some may plead nolo contendere if they want quick final action. They are all being arraigned as indigents to speed up the process.

Bradley said he is pressing for a two to three week continuance. He said he expects Harvard students to be released on their own recognizance. Demonstrators are being booked; then they will be interviewed by a probation officer who will check files for past criminal records; then papers will be typed up and arraignment will take place. Trial date, bond, and plea will be recorded at that time. The process will take several hours.

Between 5:30 and 7:45, nothing was done for the injured students who had been arrested. At 7:45, 15 were taken to hospitals on the urging of Charles R. Nesson, assistant professor of Law, who reportedly pleaded with authorities to do something for them.

At the University Health Service's emergency ward, 17 students sat for almost half an hour before receiving treatment from hospital officials. By 6:30 a.m., about 25 students had come to the emergency room, and most of them had been attended to.

The majority of injuries were scalp wounds and facial cuts and bruises. One Harvard student said he was maced in the face, but he left to find treatment elsewhere. Another Harvard student had a possible broken nose, and a girl from Brandeis was driven to Stillman with a possible broken leg.

None of the injured had as yet been admitted to Stillman Infirmary. At 6:30 three nurses, one doctor and a hospital attendant were on duty.

Over 700 students gathered on and in front of the steps of Widener Hall between 6 a.m. and 6:15 to discuss a possible student strike.