Arrest Order for Indians Stayed---They Threaten to Level Building
Arrest Order for Indians Stayed---They Threaten to Level Building
A federal appeals court Monday delayed for two days a lower-court order for the arrest of Indians who have held the Bureau of Indian Affairs building since Thursday. One Indian spokesman said the demonstrators would wreck the building unless concessions were made.
As a group of the Indians went into a meeting with White House negotiators, Dennis Banks, field director of the American Indian Movement, said the demonstrators were demanding the firing of Asst. Interior Secretary Harrison Loesch.
"The negotiators have strict instructions to lay down an ultimatum by midnight," Banks told newsmen. "If we receive no comment by midnight, then the Indian negotiators have no alternative but to remove ourselves from the building and leave nothing."
Asked if that meant the building would be destroyed, Banks replied, "There has been no business conducted in this building for years and I am sure there will be no business conducted here after the Indians leave."
Midnight came and went, but no unusual activity was reported.
Indian spokesmen said a group of demonstrators was meeting at an unspecified location with Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton, BIA Commissioner Louis C. Bruce and Frank Carlucci, associate director of the Office of Budget and Management. There was no confirmation from the Nixon Administration that a meeting was under way.
Banks said the prime topic of discussion was the firing of Loesch. If the White House gives assurance that Loesch will be dismissed, Banks said, the Indians will evacuate the building and then other points will be discussed with the government.
The Indians contend that Loesch, who is in charge of Interior's land-management program, has been against their interest in disputes over land, water and forest rights. And in his recent meetings with Indians, they said, Loesch has displayed a condescending attitude.
The Indians came to town last week in a campaign known as the Trail of Broken Treaties to protest their treatment by the government.
Earlier Monday, a three-judge anel of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia stayed until 9 p.m. Wednesday a lower court order that the Indians vacate the building, located on Constitution Ave. near the Lincoln Memorial.
U.S. Dist. Judge John Pratt had ordered the arrest of the Indians and had directed the government to give them notice of the order by 6 p.m. Monday. Pratt orally gave the government limited discretion as to the actual time for the arrests.
The Indians, who came to Washington seeking a 20-point program to improve their living conditions, seized the BIA building Thursday after the government refused their demand for food and shelter during their stay here.
As Pratt's 6 p.m. deadline neared, scores of police, many carrying truncheons and gas masks, were seen marching into a nearby Interior Department building. At the same time, the Indians--at times dancing to tom-toms--put two lines of young men outside the building.
Many of the protesters had fashioned tomahawks from stones, broken scissors and letter openers taped to broken furniture legs. Others carried heavy chair legs for clubs and some turned wooden chair seats into shields.
On the roof of the BIA building--located about five blocks from the White House--Indians piled loose roof tiles over the main doorway. Inside, buckets of hot water, typewriters and heavy furniture were put in place near upper story windows.
Appeals Court Judges David L. Bazelon, Edward A. Tamm and Harold Leventhall stayed Pratt's order.
The order by the circuit court states that after 9 p.m. Wednesday police may move to evacuate the building at their discretion.
One Indian source said the four-story building had been wired for destruction by explosives Sunday night but the system was later defused. He indicated that it had been reactivated and was ready again to be touched off.
None of the Indians would elaborate on how they had wired the building but they said that at least four Black Panthers reported to be specialists in demolition met Monday in the building.
In addition, many boxes of what were supposedly groceries were funneled into the building Monday.
Justice Department Information Officer John C. Hushen told a newsman that the appeals court decision barred the government from forcibly evicting the Indians while the stay was in effect.
A Justice Department spokesman said at 4:30 p.m. that U.S. Deputy Atty. Gen. Ralph Erickson was in command of the federal response but had not yet decided how to proceed if the Indians refused to leave the building voluntarily.
One obvious tactic might be to send police to clear the building with force. Another alternative could be to lay siege to the building, cut off water and lights and try to force the demonstrators to walk out.
Attorney Jim Heller, a lawyer for the Indians, said in an appearance before Judge Pratt that the BIA building "has no other purpose but to serve these people."
He asked the judge to be aware of the "dreadful possibility of bloodshed," adding "time is something we have. Blood is something we cannot afford."
Russell Means, a leader of the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan, predicted that any fight between police and the Indians might resemble the Indian massacre at Wounded Knee, S.D., popularized by the best-selling book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."
Means and Jim Williams, Washington spokesman for the Black Panthers, held a news conference on the steps of the building Monday. Williams said the Black Panthers supported the Indian demands but declined to say how many Panthers he was adding to the Indian forces.
Tactics of the militant Indians drew opposition from representatives of the National Tribal Chairman's Assn. who said at a Monday morning news conference that those who seized the building were mostly urban Indians unrepresentative of tribesmen living on reservations.
The group's news conference was invaded by spokesmen for the militants who denied that the NTCA represents the tribes. Instead, the activists said, the chairmen represent the government interest and themselves.