State Police Surround Negro Rally After Day of Strife in Selma, Ala.

More than 100 state and local police surrounded a church in Selma, Ala., where a mass Negro protest meeting was taking place last night. The law enforcement officials included a special delegation of 50 state troopers under the personal command of Al Lingo, head of the state police.

The 1100 Negroes had vowed to remain in the church all night if necessary, but, an hour after the meeting had ended, Negro leaders decided to allow the people to leave. The crowd filed through the police lines without incident.

The police activity capped a day of racial strife in the small Alabama town in which 19 Negroes were arrested, including 17 high school youngsters. The students were arrested under a new order issued by Dallas County sheriff James Clark empowering police to arrest any minor on the city streets not accompanied by his legal guardian. The other two Negroes, both 21 years old, were charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

During the past week, over one hundred Negroes have been arrested on various charges in this racially troubled town.

John Lewis, the national president of SNCC, was addressing the meeting of 600 youths and 500 adults when the police surrounded the building. Worth Long, Dallas County coordinating secretary of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating, estimated in a telephone interview that in addition to the 50 state troopers, about 35 to 40 deputized townsmen and 15 local Selma police officers were outside the church.

Negro leaders' original plan to keep the people in the building overnight stemmed from repeated rumors of potential violence if the Negroes left the safety of the church. James Forman, national director of had called SNCC leaders at the church earlier in the evening and recommended that the Negroes remain there evernight.