University of Virginia Library

University Students
To Join Mass March

By Rob Buford
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

A specific gathering point for University
students who will be taking part in
Saturday's March on Washington has been
announced by the Virginia Mobilization
Committee to End the War in Vietnam.

Dianne Mathioatz, a spokesman for
the Mobilization group, told The Cavalier
Daily yesterday that an effort is being
made to keep students from the University
together during the march and rally.

All students, whether travelling by car
or chartered bus, have been requested to
meet at 9 a.m. Saturday at 7th and
Jefferson Streets, at the Capitol end of the
Mall. The Mall will serve as a staging point for
the mass march, which some are saying will be
the largest in the nation's history.

Political Woodstock?

Just how many University students will be
making the trip to Washington is impossible to
predict. The Mobilization Committee has
already chartered four buses which will leave
Charlottesville at 5:30 a.m., Saturday morning,
from the parking lot of Memorial Gymnasium.
Tickets for the two-way bus ride are still on sale
at Newcomb Hall Main Desk for $5 per person.

In addition to those riding the bus, many
other students are planning to make the trip by
private car, a fact which adds to the strong
possibility of major tie-ups in D.C. traffic.
Estimates on the weekend influx now range as
high as 500,000, as the city braces itself for
what may evolve into a political Woodstock.

Only Tuesday, the Department of Justice
reversed its previous position and granted a
march permit for the proposed Pennsylvania
Avenue route.

Feared Violence

Deputy Attorney General Richard Kleindienst,
who for weeks has refused to grant such
a permit, saying he feared the possibility of
violence, appeared late Tuesday with Mayor
Walter Washington to announce the new route
agreement.

Leaders of the New Mobilization Committee
to End the War in Vietnam (New Mobe), a
coalition of peace and anti-war groups, were
reportedly "jubilant" at the decision.

Traditional Route

They had charged earlier that refusal to
allow demonstrators on Pennsylvania Avenue -
the traditional parade route from the Capitol to
the White House - would only increase the
possibility of anger and violence among
demonstrators.

Mr. Kleindienst and Mayor Washington said,
"We are confident that the New Mobilization
Committee will honor its commitments as we
will honor ours to assure a peaceful exercise of
First Amendment rights."

The statement's language was in contrast to
earlier Justice Department positions during
recent negotiations concerning the march
permit.

The government's new decision followed
two special meetings Monday, one between the
mayor and President Nixon and the other
between Messrs. Kleindienst and Washington.

According to the agreement, the permit
authorizes the marchers to assemble on the Mall
between the Capitol and 3rd Street, to enter
Pennsylvania Avenue at 4th Street and continue
up the avenue to 15th Street, just southeast of
the White House.

The line of march will then turn south at
15th Street and terminate at the Washington
Monument grounds, where a mass rally is to be
held. The rally program will include well-known
speakers and musical entertainment.

2½ Hour Limit

The mass march is scheduled to begin at 10
a.m. Under terms of the permit, marshals will
allow demonstrators to file onto Pennsylvania
Avenue until 12:30 p.m. At that time, all
remaining marchers will be instructed to
proceed directly down the Mall to the rally site.

Mobilization leaders estimate that 40,000 to
70,000 demonstrators will march along the
longer Pennsylvania Avenue route. The permit
requires that the Mobilization supply 2,000
marshals to keep marchers on the south side of
the avenue. In addition, another 500 marshals
will be charged with keeping demonstrators
away from government buildings along the
march route.

'March Against Death'

Most Mobilization plans are now complete
including a Thursday-to-Saturday "March Against
Death," a forty hour single-file procession
of 45,000 persons carrying the names of
American war dead in Vietnam from Arlington
Cemetery past the White House to the Capitol.

The question of the march permit was until
Tuesday the only snag in the otherwise smooth
negotiations for the anti-war activities. The
government has been making extensive plans to
guard the city in the event of trouble.

The 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg,
N.C. is only one of many military units which
have been placed on a standby alert, thus
raising the possibility of a paratroop move to
Washington.

Handling Disorders

Indications are that the Pentagon is
considering stationing federal troops at some
government buildings. Washington police and
the D.C. National Guard will have primary
responsibility for handling any street disorders.

The names of speakers at the rally
announced thus far include Sens. George
McGovern (D.-S.D.) and Charles Goodell
(R.-N.Y.), Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Washington
School Board member Julius Hobson
and David Dellinger, a defendant in Chicago
riot conspiracy charges.