Indians Picket for More News on Mohawk Dispute
American Indians, chanting and calling for more news coverage of a dispute involving Canadian Mohawk Indians, picketed The Times in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Members of the Mohawk Defense Committee said the newspaper was chosen for the hourlong protest by 15 Indians because a demonstration last week outside the Canadian Consulate attracted no reporters.
Although The Times has published frequent reports about the Mohawk tribe--29 stories so far this year--the committee feels interest has waned since last month, when the Canadian army cleared away Indian road barricades near Montreal, spokesman Jose Mendivil said.
The dispute began over a plan to expand a golf course on land the Indians claimed as their own. Since early September, Canadian soldiers have surrounded about 50 Mohawks--some reportedly armed with rifles and bombs--who are holed up in a “last stand” in Oka, west of Montreal.
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