DNC Convention "Police Riot" (1968)

Wed Aug 28, 1968

Image: Cops beat and detain protesters during the 1968 DNC Police Riot [theguardian.com]

On this day in 1968, six days of continuous protests at the Chicago Democratic National Convention climaxed in a police riot characterized by the Chicago Sun-Times as "a 17-minute melee in front of the Conrad Hilton". Footage of the violence, as well as disruptions on the convention floor, was broadcast internationally, and more than 600 people were arrested.

In 1967, counterculture and anti-Vietnam War protest groups had been promising to come to Chicago and disrupt the Democratic Nation Convention (DNC), while the city was promising to maintain law and order.

For eight days, the protesters were met by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in the streets and parks of Chicago while the Democrats held the convention in the International Amphitheater. The protests climaxed in what a major report later called a "police riot" on August 28th, 1968.

In defiance of explicit orders by the police, thousands of protesters attempted to march on the streets of Chicago. When they did so, they were "attacked blitzkrieg fashion by busloads of club-swinging cops" and beaten and arrested en masse. According to the New York Times, "onlookers joined the protesters in booing the police. Rolls of toilet paper, bars of soap, and water glasses were thrown at the police from [Hilton] hotel windows, along with a number of rocks, bottles and cherry bombs".

More than 600 people were arrested, and more than 100 protesters and cops were treated with injuries that night. So much tear gas was thrown that it could smelled from the hotel suite of Hubert Humphrey, who went on to win the presidential nomination that night.

On the convention floor, several delegates made statements against Mayor Daley and the CPD, like Senator Abraham Ribicoff who denounced the use of "Gestapo tactics on the streets of Chicago" in his speech nominating George McGovern. Subsequently, the "Walker Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence" assigned blame for the violence on the police force, calling the incident a "police riot".

• Date: 1968-08-28
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, www.theguardian.com, www.youtube.com.
• Tags: #Riots, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org