13 Jdl Members Arrested at Rally at Soviet Mission to the UN

Thirteen members of the Jewish Defense League, including its national director, Fem Rosenb latt, were arrested at a demonstration in front of the Soviet Mission to the United Nations.

Several of the 75 JDL members who were marching in front of the Mission in sub-zero weather, were injured by police who swung their clubs when the demonstrators refused to move from the designated area where demonstrations can be held. One JDL member was knocked to the ground and beaten. He was taken to the hospital to have his wounds treated and later released.

Capt. Carl Jonasch, spokesman for the local police precinct, said the 13 who were arrested were released after being charged with disorderly conduct for violating the Shorter Decision of 1980, which regulates demonstrations close to embassies. A hearing was set for March 6 at the Manhattan Criminal Court.

The “emergency demonstration” last Sunday was to protest the recent escalation of anti-Semitism by the Soviet government and the increasing numbers of arrests of Jewish activists and teachers of Hebrew and Judaism. Rosenb latt referred specifically to the arrests of Yuli Edelstein of Moscow, Yaakov Levin of Odessa and Leonid Schrier of Chemovisky, each sentenced to three years in prison, and Yosef Berenshtein of Kiev.

Amid signs of “Free Shcharansky Now,” “Free Soviet Jews,” and “Never Again,” were pictures of those the JDL said were victims of the Soviet Union, including Nadia Fradkova, declared insane and sent to a mental hospital for applying to emigrate to Israel.

As the 75 demonstrators marched to the site of the Soviet Mission they were confronted by three dozen police officers. The arrests began about 15 minutes after the demonstration began.