DEMONSTRATE FOR SELMA
TORONTO, March 12 -- The sit-in at the U.S. consulate general by a squad of University of Toronto students in solidarity with the embattled Negroes of Selma, Alabama, has won wide public support in Canada, Television, radio and newspapers have-been giving round-the-~ clock coverage since some 300 students marched on the consulate the afternoon of March 10. Thirty-eight sat down on the lobby floor of the consulate, blocking diplomatic goings on until forty police forcibly dragged them out one by one.
The ejected students made three attempts to re-enter the consulate but were blocked by police standing shoulder to shoulder in front of the entrance. Joined by other youthful supporters,. the thirty-eight sat on the sidewalk, holding a vigil there throughout the night despite weather with the thermometer at twelve below freezing.
In behalf of the Friends of SNCC [Student Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee], Diane Burrows declared that the aim of the demonstration was not only to protest the Alabama police terror but to make known their demand for federal intervention.
The following morning, police dragged some sixty-five students from the steps to permit consulate officials to enter. Two of the demonstrators nevertheless managed to interview the consul general. They said he told them that he and his staff were appalled by what is taking place in Alabama and even felt that the demonstration of the Toronto students was useful, having a cumulative effect.
A petition was thereupon drawn up and sent into the consulate staff, asking them to express their personal opinions.
Late in the afternoon, they got a written reply from the con-= sul general, It said, “Neither I or. my associates can comply with your requests to act in a purely personal capacity."
The students say they intend to stay at the consulate until the U.S. federal government. takes effective action in behalf of the Negroes,
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