350 Seized in U.S. Protests on Honduras : Thousands Across Nation Assail Sending 3,200 Troops to Area

Thousands of people across the nation joined spreading protests today against the sending of U.S. troops to Honduras and more than 350 were arrested after blocking federal buildings in Chicago, Boston and in San Francisco, where baton-wielding police officers waded into the crowd.

More than 250 people were arrested in San Francisco, up to 60 in Chicago and one in Boston on the second day of protests, police said. Twelve men and 12 women were arrested for blocking traffic in front of the White House.

About 50 protesters were arrested in the three cities Thursday, the day 3,200 troops were sent to Honduras in what the White House called a “measured response” to Nicaraguan troops crossing the border into Honduras.

Federal Building Blocked

Four hundred protesters marched today in Chicago, chanting, “Reagan sent the troops today, get them out is what we say.” Five hundred blocked entry to the Federal Building in San Francisco and 80 stopped traffic at a military recruiting office near the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston.

The Chicago arrests, on misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges, came after demonstrators pasted 8 1/2-by-11-inch orange stickers on first-floor windows at the Loop federal building and sat in intersections, police said.

Many of the stickers bore a skull and crossbones, and the message “Stop U.S. Intervention in Central America.”

More than 1,000 people marched Thursday night from the Honduras Consulate to the Federal Building in San Francisco. In Minneapolis, protesters burned the U.S. flag. A mock “Central America War Memorial” was erected in Philadelphia.

“Bring the troops home. No Contra aid, no war,” the Boston protesters chanted today as they marched. One person was arrested.

“I believe our actions in Central America are wrong,” said Lenore Azaroff, 22, of Somerville. “I believe sending troops to Honduras is the first step to another Vietnam.”

More than 200 people were arrested today in San Francisco as they blocked traffic and the entrance to the Federal Building. Helmeted police at one point blocked a street, rerouting rush-hour traffic. Protesters stalled three cars in streets near the building, forcing police to push them to the side.

At least half a dozen violent confrontations erupted when demonstrators tried to grab police equipment, including batons. Officers lashed back, jamming the batons into the demonstrators’ stomachs and chests.

The arrested demonstrators were handcuffed with plastic ties, photographed and booked on the street, then taken in police vans to the Hall of Justice.

Police said the demonstrators arrested today would be cited and released by federal authorities, just as 25 protesters were Thursday.