In March 1962 Russell addressed a sit-down demonstration in Parliament Square against the sentences on the Wethersfield Six. All the 1,172 protesters were arrested, but there was a growing feeling that such demonstrations were becoming an end in themselves and would not now create a mass movement against nuclear weapons. (Contemporary research showed that public support for the unilateralist cause actually declined in the period when the Committee of 100 was most active.) A sit-down of 7,000 outside the Air Ministry planned for the following September had to be called off because of lack of support, a "public assembly" being held instead.