Three Ajcongress Leaders Arrested at an Anti-apartheid Demonstration

Three American Jewish Congress officials were arrested today during an anti-apartheid demonstration at the Embassy of South Africa. Theodore Mann, AJC president, Henry Siegman, executive director, and Theodore Bikel, senior vice president, were handcuffed and taken in a police van to a local police station where they were booked and detained for several hours.

The three AJC officials were arrested by Washington police for refusing an order to remain at least 500 feet from the Embassy. Rabbi David Saperstein, codirector and counsel of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) Religious Action Center, who participated in the protest, acted as the lawyer for the three AJC officials while they were being detained. Another participant in the demonstration was Rabbi Alexander Schindler, UAHC president.

STATEMENT BY FIVE JEWISH PARTICIPANTS

The five Jewish officials, who led the anti-apartheid protest, issued a statement which said, in part: “Jewish tradition and historical experience require that we speak out against all forms of injustice …. We have come to publicly protest and condemn the official government apartheid policy of discrimination and dehumanization which has been imposed upon the non-white majority in South Africa.

“We have come to demonstrate our support for the victims of South African government oppression — in particular, political prisoners and jailed labor leaders incarcerated for protesting the brutal and savage system under which they live.

“We strongly oppose the Reagan Administration’s policy of ‘constructive engagement’. This approach has not advanced the cause of true social justice, nor has it mitigated the South African government’s regressive racial policies.

“We urge the South African government to release the labor and political leaders still imprisoned as the first step in a dialogue with leaders of the Black community aimed at ending apartheid in South Africa.”