Hide Article Text (OCR)
Protestors Jailed at ReidsvilleREIDSVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Riot-equipped state police arrested 66 civil rights marchers on Saturday after they allegedly violated a judge’s order by walking across a bridge to the grounds of Georgia’s maximum security prison, authorities said.Superior Court Judge James E. Findley of the Atlantic Judicial Circuit signed a temporary restraining order Saturday morning barring the protesters from crossing the bridge about 1,000 yards from the main gate of the Georgia State Prison.He cited testimony and affidavits by prison officials which said “violence within the facility is a certainty,” if the marchers were allowed to “approach any building within the prison compound” to protestconditions there.Those arrested were loaded onto a state patrol bus and taken to the Tattnall County courthouse, where they appeared before Findley.All were charged with violating the restraining order and freed on their own recognizance. Leaders of the march said they planned no further action on Saturday.Georgia State Patrol spokesman Bill Wilson said 66 of the approximately 100 marchers crossed the bridge Saturday afternoon and were taken into custody without incident by state troopers equipped with riot gear.Wilson said 66 of the approximately 100 marchers crossed the bridge Saturday afternoon and were taken into custody without incident by state troopers equipped with riot gear.The protesters are calling for an end to the death penalty, closing of the prison and dismissal of murder charges against six black inmates accused of killing a white guard and two white inmates during a riot in July 1978.The marchers who did not cross the bridge gathered at St. William’s Missionary Baptist Church in Reidsville following the incident, according to reporters on the scene.The 100 marchers, led by state Rep. Hosea Williams of Atlanta, included more than 20 who battled scorching heat in a 60-mile trek that began in Savannah on Monday. They gathered at the Tattnall County courthouse Saturday morning before beginning the seven-mile walk to the prison southwest of here.Findley said prison officials filed court papers Friday night asking him to bar the marchers from the prison grounds The affidavits said the prison population had become “increasingly tense” during the marchers’ six-day trek from Savannah to Reidsville The affidavits added there had been “work stoppages ”
Newspaper Details
Panama City News Herald
Panama City, Florida, US
Sun, Aug 12, 1979
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Charles L.
USA 15 Jul 2020
Other Publications Near Panama City, Florida
Panama City Pilot
Panama City News Herald Sunday
Panama City News Herald
Panama News Herald
Panama City News
