SSSJ in Sit-in at Aeroflot

Fifteen members of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and the Queens Students for Soviet Jewry staged a two-hour sit-in yesterday at the offices of Aeroflot, the Soviet airline here. They left the premises after police arrived. No arrests were made and apparently no complaint was lodged.

Two officials of the United States Mission to the United Nations visited the Aeroflot offices while the sit-in was in progress. One of them Richard Combs, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency afterwards that they had been notified of the incident by the Soviet UN Mission but that their role was “unofficial” and strictly that of “onlookers.”

According to an SSSJ spokesman, Combs and another U.S. official went to a back room to consult with the Aeroflot manager after some 20 policemen arrived but did not speak to the demonstrators. Police at the 18th precinct which covers the Aeroflot office told the JTA they had no knowledge of the incident.

The students were protesting the pending trials of three Russian Jews–Lazar Lubarsky of Rostov, Isaac Skolnik of Vinnitsa, and Yefim Davidovich of Minsk, The SSSJ entered the Aeroflot office and posted signs demanding freedom for the Jewish prisoners and also hung up an Israeli flag on one of the walls.

(In London yesterday, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and other organizations active on behalf of Soviet Jewry lodged protests with Soviet authorities against the trial of Lubarsky who is charged with giving away State secrets and will be tried in camera starting tomorrow. A number of demonstrations are expected to take place tomorrow in London and the provinces.)