July 25, 1964 - The NYPD blocked a proposed protest march in Harlem today by arresting two of the leftists who had organized it.
Leaders of the anti-police demonstration had insisted on proceeding with it despite a ban by Police Commissioner Michael Murphy, a Supreme Court injunction obtained by the city, and the opposition of nearly all Harlem organizations.
The march had been planned by the Harlem Defense Council, an offshoot of the Communist-controlled Progressive Labor Movement. City officials had feared that the demonstration would precipitate renewed violence in Harlem.
Those arrested were William Epton, 32, the council’s leader and a self-described disciple of the Chinese Communists, and his lawyer, Conrad Lynn, 55, who has a long record of associations with left-wing movements.
As Epton and Lynn attempted to rally a small band of followers at the corner of Lenox Avenue and 116th Street at about 4:20 p.m., patrolmen wearing helmets and brandishing nightsticks pushed their way through the crowd.
A Negro policeman said to the two men, who are also Negroes, “You’re under arrest,” and led them to a squad car. They were taken to the West 126th Street station and charged with disorderly conduct.
Harlem and the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, which were torn by rioting last week, have been relatively quiet for the past two days. Reinforced police patrols were on duty in the area between 116th and 135th Streets in central Harlem.
This afternoon, Governor Nelson Rockefeller issued through his office in Albany a statement deploring the racial unrest in New York and Rochester. He promised to use “every legal means” to maintain order in the state.
He said that “lawlessness, hoodlumism, and extremism” would be met by the full force of the law and that “there are disturbing indications that there may be organized efforts to incite or abet such disturbances.
“The people of this state must and will be protected from mob violence. The police forces of our state are our principal bulwark against mob violence and chaos. They must have citizen support everywhere in these efforts.”
Mayor Wagner met for about 2½ hours with a delegation of 30 civil rights leaders at Gracie Mansion. Later, he left for his summer home in East Islip, L.I., without issuing a statement.
Among those at the meeting were Bayard Rustin, organizer of last year’s March on Washington; the Rev. Richard Hildebrand, president of the New York chapter of the NAACP; and several Black Nationalist leaders.
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