The Cavalier daily :: Friday, May 7, 1971 :: University of Virginia Library

Organized by the Charlottesville Draft
Resistance League, the handful of
students spent three hours on Wednesday
and Thursday displaying anti-war posters
and distributing anti-draft literature. This
afternoon the league will again
demonstrate in front of the draft board,
which is located on Arlington Boulevard.

Amen Kahwajy

Amen Kahwajy, representing the
Student Council Draft Repeal
Committee, stated that on Wednesday the
group "demonstrated through the
Barracks Road Shopping Center in order
to bring attention to the demands for the
immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops
from Indochina, for an end to the draft,
and for the implementation of an
all-volunteer armed services."

He further stated that $80 had been
collected for the Student Council Legal Defense
Fund, a fund to provide students with money
for bail or legal assistance should they need it.

Steve Squire of the People's Coalition for
Peace and Justice stated that the demonstrators
had been watched Wednesday by a plainclothes
policeman in a white van with a two-way radio.

Police Upset

"They get very upset," he said, referring to
the local police. During the picketing on
Wednesday, Charlottesville police chief C.O.
Durham inspected the situation to make sure all
was orderly. Two FBI agents assigned to central
Virginia remained close by.

"It's really disgusting how this government
doesn't seem to know how to get out of this
war," Mr. Squire continued. "As Rennie Davis
said, 'It's about time we woke up the good
Germans.' "

The demonstrators passed out leaflets
condemning the war and the draft. One of the
leaflets apologized for the Washington
demonstrations, stating, "The frustration and
annoyance you feel toward those breaking the
law is, of course, understandable."

"You may not agree with the tactics being
used and you may not agree with the points of
view of the participants," it continued. "But we
ask that you consider with us the horror and
the death continuing daily in Vietnam." The
leaflet gives figures showing total battle deaths
on all sides now amount to 1.26 million and
total wounded now reach 4.6 million.

Also distributed were copies of a
commentary by Nicholas von Hoffman of the
Washington Post entitled "The Selective Slavery
System." Picketing will continue today at 2 p.m.

Mr. Squire said that two major issues are
influencing the Draft Resistance League's
future plans. He stated, "The League has to
decide where their energies will be most
effective, in Washington or here in
Charlottesville."