Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

letter to the editor:

Actions of free speech protesters

I would like to comment on the Sun’s Oct. 1 article about the 1964 free speech protesters returning to Berkeley, Calif.

In 1965 or 1966, I was a Los Angeles Police Department cop. My partner and I were assigned to escort and protect Mario Savio in a vehicle parade in Los Angeles. The parade featured Savio and several other like-minded “free speechers.” They needed protection because of a large turnout of people who objected to their messages. Shouts and signs all along the parade directed them to go back to Berkeley.

When we stopped to allow the free speechers to speak, several LA citizens objected to their rhetoric but were immediately shouted, and some shoved, down. So I concluded this really was not a “free for everybody” speech that day.

That event and others that followed were the same. The free speech groups left trash on the streets. They also defecated, urinated and vomited in the alleys and side streets. Frequently, these body wastes were put in containers and thrown at the police.

The Los Angeles Free Press and the Los Angeles Times never mentioned that conduct but screamed to high heaven when the cops reacted to the excrement throwing.

I witnessed this and more on several occasions, so I concluded that the free speechers were instead filthy, lying, immature, spoiled brats.

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