Two dozen demonstrators in black and white prisoner-type uniforms walked out of a Moiseyev Dance Company performance at the Shrine Auditorium Tuesday night to protest the suppression of the rights of Soviet Jews. Meanwhile, an estimated 500 pickets marched in front of the auditorium to protest against the “harassment, intimidation, and imprisonment” of Jews in the Soviet Union.
Mrs. Oscar Lozabnick, chairwoman of the Commission on Soviet Jewry of the Community Relations Committee, Jewish Federation-Council, which organized the rally, said groups from as far away as Orange County. San Gabriel, Covina, and the west valley joined many Los Angeles groups at the auditorium.
Tuesday’s performance took place under police surveillance, apparently because of a bomb blast Monday night which did minor damage to the front of the auditorium. An anonymous caller later took responsibility for the blast, claiming that it was in protest of Soviet treatment of Jews.
CONGRESSMAN SUPPORTS ACTION
Sen. John V. Tunney (D.Calif.) supported the protest action Tuesday with a statement sent to the Commission on Soviet Jewry. “So long as the Soviet Union continues to severely hinder emigration of Soviet Jews and harass those who seek to exercise their basic human rights.” Tunney said, “there will be an ultimate barrier to real detente. Cultural exchanges, like the visit of the Moiseyev Dance Company to the United States, play a useful role in bringing some understanding between people in our two nations, but such visits cannot mask the horror of Soviet policies which nullify human rights.”
Reacting to the rally, dance director Igor Moiseyev was sharply critical of what he called a “lack of hospitality.” He told a press conference that American artists who perform in the Soviet Union will never be subjected to such treatment.
Mrs. Lozabnick said the rally was important because “there are a number of Soviet Jews in the field of the arts who have been repeatedly denied visas.” She said, “It is in their behalf, and in the behalf of all those who are oppressed, imprisoned and denied their human rights, that we are continuing our demonstrations.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
