Crocodile Tears . . .

The Press, hostile as it was, had to admit that the procession was quiet and orderly.

And the reactions? Firstly, there was a hypocritical weeping in the Press (and from the R.S.A. which is always willing to oblige) about the "sacrilegious use" of the War Memorial. Secondly, there was a lifting of hands at the horror of students daring to have an interest in the affairs of the world and of thinking contrary to those dispassionate and informed guides; "The Dominion" and "The Evening Post." Finally, there was a suspicious proliferation of letters to the editor by unnamed "Students" expressing a strange concern for the "good name" of Victoria College.

The good name of the college was thrashed out at a special general meeting of the Students' Association a few weeks later. At that meeting a motion "That the Executive shall forthwith send a letter of apology to the Dutch Minister for the recent actions of a minority and disaffiliate the Socialist Club for a period of one year" was lost by 140 votes to 110. This vote reaffirmed, as "Spike" put it, that "when organised by the Socialist Club over three hundred students signed a petition and over two hundred marched the streets protesting against the Dutch attack, it was no mere Socialist Club that spoke out: it was Victoria. If Victoria has a voice that voice spoke from our banners."

Two days after the demonstration the United Nations Security Council by 8 votes to nil called on the Dutch and the Indonesian Governments to "cease hostilities forthwith and to settle their dispute by arbitration or other peaceful means." That was precisely what the students had called for.

For the obscenity of calling for the implementation of the Atlantic Charter and of the Charter of the United Nations, the students were to be subject to further petty irritation. For, smarting from their rebuff, the police brought prosecutions against seven students and three watersiders for having taken part in an illegal procession.