- they wanted to, as feet kicked and billy clubs and rifle butts were smashed into people's heads. It was terrifying to watch people who were only sitting there being beaten badly.and carried out ' with concussions and broken bones. Many of the people sitting got up and ran. Those standing threw things: Those of us sitting bunched closer together, and sang softly, We shallovercome, We shall live in peace, We are not afraid, Soldiers are ourfriends, Kumbaya, my Lord, Kumbaya. . . We talked with the soldiers in front of us, looking at them pleadingly: "You don't.want to hurt us, . will ybu do that, will you have to, please don't hurt us, arrest us, but don't hurt us, we mean no harm toyou...." i l I I I I I I I \ *..r , ln the middle people were slowly being beaten and removed from the line to paddy wagons. The scene was terrifying; many ran. Everyone was shouting, "Cet the girls outof there," but we stayed, afraid but wanting to stay, to stay with and support our men, to eliminate the violence, not to run and excuse ourselves from a dangerous position, to show the soldiers we were sure they would not hurt us, to make our position clear, about the war, to fight it here. The police wedge broke through the middle. People ran, Those we thought most con'rmitted to staying ran in the face of brutality. We were surrounded. ln keeping with the pacif istic approach of our small section, we realized ther.e was no. point in keeping our arms linked, we couldn't stop the advance of the trooþs and would only get hurt . ourselves, and cause oihers to have to huit us. We let go and covered our heads. A boy behind me put his hands on my head to protect me. The marshal lifted us out of the line carefully, one by one. Thê violence was gone. lt was over for us. ' The last few hours of the demonstration were the most agonizing¡ traumatic, and the most beautiful. By then the'150,000 had been reduced to a few hundred who had been through a lot together. They had faced the cold nigñt, tear gas, beatings, indecision. And they camethrougfrìt ail with a new respect for themselves, a real (not just slogan-level) sympathy for the troops, and the beginnings of an understanding of what was needed in a confrontation with the American government. They found that linked arms, missileiand violent charg.es gained thertr no ground against the army, ' th.at they resulted only in bloodied heads. Maríy' who had started out years ago as pacifists, then abandoned nonviolence for the rhetoric of Che and Giap, saw once again that a violent struggle gains nothing. Self-protection and-even more imþortant-communicating with the troops we were facing-turned the whole group to a nonviolent stance. This was not something that the pacif ists in the crowd imposed. J erry Rubin and Stewart Albert, no pacifists in anyone's book, were the most eloquent in pleading for nonviolence. SteW even called for any of the soldiers who intended to . use violence to raise their hands (one did). The Mobilization's permit expired at midnight Sunday. ln the last few minutes, as the demon- . r, 'i :l ' strators sang "We Shall Overcqme" and "America the Beautiful," several hundied more soldiers emerged from inside the Pentagon and took up positions in front of the demonstrâtors. Then a voice from within the buildine announced over a_nd over that the permit was abbut to expire, that those who remained would be airested, thaf those who wished to leave could take þuses supplied by the governmgnt. No more than fwo dozen left, most choosing to walk. About two,hundred stayed and were gently arrested. I , Cai