Indians Occupying U.S. Building Ask Nixon to Intercede
Indians Occupying U.S. Building Ask Nixon to Intercede
Indians occupying the Bureau of Indian Affairs building urged President Nixon tonight to help find a solution in the impasse between the demonstrators and federal officials, who have given the Indians an ultimatum to evacuate by tomorrow morning.
Dennis Banks, field director for the American Indian Movement, said the Indians were rejecting the latest overture from the government, an offer of an interdepartmental auditorium--the same facility proffered repeatedly in the last four days--with the addition of shower facilities.
350 in Building
Banks said if the Indians had agreed to move into the auditorium, federal officials would have arranged for them an appointment with Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton.
An estimated 200 Indians took over the BIA building last Thursday as part of a protest against "life in a white-dominated America." The number inside the building today was put at about 350.
Banks said no new negotiations are planned, and that appointments the Indians said had been arranged with top White House assistant John Ehrlichman and Leonard Garment, his minority-affairs consultant, have been canceled. He said the Indians did not know the reason, but an Interior Department spokesman said the appointments were never arranged.
"Both this administration and our caravan are backed up against the election," Banks said. "Zero hour is too close to provide meaningful discussion.
Meet in Teepee
"The government wants this building, they don't care about us."
The Indians' policy council met for 45 minutes tonight within the teepee set up on the BIA lawn to mull over the latest offer from the federal negotiators.
During that time, they refined the wording of the telegram they were sending to Nixon. It asks him to appoint a special 12-member committee to oversee the situation, including five government representatives and seven Indians.
It also asks that a meeting of the commission be convened by Nixon by no later than 8 a.m. tomorrow--the newest deadline for evacuation of the building. Nixon is at the Western White House in San Clemente, Cal.
Ultimatum Is Given
A government spokesman said after offering the latest proposal that if the Indians rejected it, a federal judge would be asked to sign a contempt order giving marshals authority to eject the demonstrators from the building.
Vernon Bellecourt, national coordinator of the American Indian Movement, told newsman earlier tonight that Erlichman and Garment had agreed to meet with the Indians. The government said no such meeting had been arranged.