The Jewish Defense League said today that police made seven arrests yesterday when demonstrators prevented a Soviet diplomat and his wife from entering the Soviet Mission to the United Nations. According to the JDL, 300 persons participated in the demonstration protesting the death sentence imposed on Mikhail Leviev, a Moscow Jew accused of economic crimes and the abduction of 15-year-old Marina Tiemkin by the Soviet secret police to prevent her from joining her father in Israel.
The Soviet UN Mission, meanwhile, has charged the New York City police with laxity in breaking up the demonstration which, it said, lasted five hours. In a note published as a General Assembly document, the Soviet Mission said, “A police detachment arrived at the scene of the disgusting spectacle, but not until an hour and a half after it had begun.” It charged that “the police failed to take preventive measures in good time to restrain extremist hooligans,” adding, “The American authorities should take all necessary measures to are to it that such hostile actions against the USSR Mission and its staff are not permitted in the future.” There was no immediate comment from the police department on the Soviet charges
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