Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990 TAG: 9006250013
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Short
Sullivan, asking for "cooperation, tolerance, understanding and caring" in the closing speech at the Sixth International Conference on AIDS, dodged wads of paper tossed at him as he stood at the podium behind a line of police.
Many doctors, scientists and others attending the meeting at the Moscone Center convention hall were upset by the disruption, organized by the activist group ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power.
During the five-day meeting, ACT UP led daily demonstrations outside the convention hall. However, until Sunday, celebrated by thousands downtown as Gay-Lesbian Freedom Day, they did not disrupt the scientific sessions inside.
Activists are angry with federal AIDS efforts on several counts, including the perceived slowness in finding new treatments and making them available to people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Despite the demonstration, Sullivan was able to complete his speech. By contrast, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top AIDS official, was warmly received. Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and heads the federal Office of AIDS Research.
He acknowledged that people who are infected with HIV, the AIDS virus, are impatient because they cannot wait years for solutions to their medical problems, and this has led to anger on both sides.
by CNB