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Some 4,000 People Join Largest Soviet Jewry Protest in SF History

October 5, 1983
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More than 4,000 linked arms and surrounded the Soviet Consulate here last Sunday in the most massive demonstration for Soviet Jews in the history of northern California. At each of the four corners of the block where the Consulate is located, a shofar was sounded.

Rep. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, announced a new proposal at the rally. She suggested to the Soviet government that, as a goodwill gesture to the West, the Soviets release 269 Jewish Prisoners of Conscience and long-term refuseniks, one for each person who died in the Korean plane that was shot down by the Soviets.

Prior to the rally, activists set up a Soviet Jewry street fair, with an exhibition of underground Soviet Jewish art, photographs of Jewish POCs and of Soviet Jewish communities.

The rally and street fair were organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, Marin and the Peninsula, and the Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry which is a member of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, It was co-sponsored by many other northern California Jewish organizations.

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