Hips Angered By Shootings Flip Cop Car. (Photo: Lee Davidson/Liberation News Service, 1969)
Also called “Bloody Thursday,” the People’s Park Uprising in 1969 was, at its core, a battle over citizens’ appropriation of unused land at the University of California, Berkley. But when Governor Reagan delegated crowd control duties to his chief of staff, Edwin Meese III, violence escalated. “Under Meese’s direction, the police were permitted to use whatever methods they chose against the crowds, which had swelled to approximately 6,000 people. Officers in full riot gear (helmets, shields, and gas masks) obscured their badges to avoid being identified and headed into the crowds with nightsticks swinging.”
[Image and caption via Babylon Falling]
