Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

1971 Mayday Protests

The 1971 May Day protests were aseries of large-scale civil disobedience actions in Washington, D.C.,in protest against the Vietnam War. These began on Monday morning,May 3rd, and ended on May 5th. More than 12,000 people were arrested,the largest mass arrest in U.S. history.

Members of the Nixon administrationwould come to view the events as damaging, because the government'sresponse was perceived as violating citizens' civil rights.

Planning

By the middle of 1970 many leaders ofthe anti war movement had come to believe that tactics of massmarches that had been used during the past six years would not endthe war, and that more aggressive actions were needed. Rennie Davisand David Dellinger of the People's Coalition for Peace and Justiceand Jerry Coffin of the War Resisters League began planning theactions; later in 1970 Michael Lerner joined their number. A groupknown as the "May Day Tribe" was formed: it was madeup of Yippies and others among the more militant members of theanti-war movement. It was decided that small groups of protesterswould block major intersections and bridges in the capital, under theslogan, "If the government won't stop the war, we'll stop thegovernment."

The protests

Saturday May 1

More than 40,000 protesters camped outin West Potomac Park near the Potomac River to listen to rock musicand plan for the coming action.

Sunday May 2

The Nixon administration secretlycanceled the protester's camping permit. U.S. Park Police andWashington Metropolitan Police, dressed in riot gear, raided theencampment. The police gave the campers until noon to clear out. Someprotesters abandoned the demonstration and left the city. Theremaining protesters, estimated at 12,000, regrouped at variouschurches and college campuses in the area.

Monday May 3

The U.S. government had put into effectOperation Garden Plot, a plan it had developed during the 1960s tocombat major civil disorders. Over the weekend, while protesterslistened to music, planned their actions or slept, 10,000 federaltroops were moved to various locations in the Washington, D.C. area.At one point, so many soldiers and Marines were being moved into thearea from bases along the East Coast that troop transports werelanding at the rate of one every three minutes at Andrews Air ForceBase in suburban Maryland, about 15 miles east of the White House.Among these troops were 4,000 paratroopers from the U.S. 82ndAirborne Division. Troops from the Marine Barracks lined both sidesof the 14th St bridge. These troops were to back up the 5,100officers of the D.C. Metropolitan Police, 2,000 members of the D.C.National Guard and federal agents that were already in place. Everymonument, park and traffic circle in the nation's capital had troopsprotecting its perimeters. Paratroopers and Marines deployed viahelicopter to the grounds of the Washington Monument.

Protesters announced that because thegovernment had not stopped the Vietnam War they would stop thegovernment and told troops, many of whom were of similar age, thattheir goal was to prevent the troops from being sent to Vietnam.While the troops were in place and thousands held in reserve, thepolice clashed with members of the May Day tribe. The protestersengaged in hit and run tactics throughout the city, trying to disrupttraffic and cause chaos in the streets. President Richard Nixon, whowas at the Western White House in San Clemente, California, refusedto give Federal workers the day off, forcing them to navigate throughpolice lines and May Day tribe roadblocks. Most commuters who triedarrived at their jobs, despite being delayed somewhat. FederalEmployees for Peace held a rally the following day in Lafayette Park.

While the troops secured the majorintersections and bridges, the police abandoned their usual arrestprocedures, roaming through the city making sweep arrests and usingtear gas. They detained anyone who looked like a demonstrator. By 8am thousands of people had been arrested, including many who had notbeen breaking any law. The city's prisons did not have the capacityto handle that many people thus several emergency detention centerswere set up including the Washington Coliseum and another onesurrounded by an 8-foot-high (2.4 m) fence was set up next to RFKStadium. The prisoners massed against the fence, pushed it over, andwere tear-gassed. No food, water, or sanitary facilities were madeavailable by authorities but sympathetic local residents broughtsupplies. Skirmishes between protesters and police occurred up untilabout mid-day. In Georgetown, the police herded the protesters andonlookers through the streets to the Georgetown University campus.The police then engaged in a back and forth with the protestersoutside the university's main gate on O Street, lobbing tear gas overthe gate each time they pushed the crowd back. Other forms of gaswere used including pepper based and one that induced vomiting.Police helicopters also dropped tear gas on the university's lowerathletic field where protesters had camped the night before. Numerouspeople were injured and treated by volunteers on campus. By afternoonthe police had suppressed the protest and held more than 7,000prisoners.

Next several days

On Tuesday, May 4, another 2,000 peoplewere arrested at a sit-in outside the headquarters of the JusticeDepartment. On Wednesday, May 5, 1,200 more people were arrested at alegal rally on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, bringing the total to12,614 people, making this the largest mass arrest in U.S. history.

Aftermath

The Justice Department filed conspiracycharges against May Day leader Rennie Davis, as well as against twoother activists who had been members of the Chicago 7, John Froinesand Abbie Hoffman. The charges were eventually dismissed. Out of the12,000 demonstrators arrested most were released without charges.Only 79 were eventually convicted. The ACLU pursued a class actionsuit on behalf of thousands of detained protesters and ultimately thefederal courts, recognizing the illegal nature of the arrests,ordered the government to pay a settlement to those arrested, makingthem some of the only citizens in US history to receive financialcompensation for violation of the constitutional rights of freeassembly and due process.

Richard Helms, who was CentralIntelligence Agency director at the time, said "It wasobviously viewed by everybody in the administration, particularlywith all the arrests and the howling about civil rights and humanrights and all the rest of it...as a very damaging kind of event. Idon't think there was any doubt about that."