Bloody Saturday in Gastown . . . See below

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1971 Vol. 32, No. 32 <=

|INDIGNANT PUBLIC DEMANDS:

STOP POLICE VIOLENCE —

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Blame for violence _—
rests on Campbell

By MAURICE RUSH

The vicious and brutal attack by Vancouver's police on
hundreds of people - young and old - in Gastown last
Saturday night has shocked citizens from every walk of
life as nothing else has for many years.

Not since the Post Office
sitdown in the late thirties, when horses into innocent bystanders
police forced unemployed out of and created the reign of terror in
the Post Office with tear gas and -Gastown. it was Mayor Tom
then set upon them with club and Campbell, far from the scene of
whip to “teach them a lesson’ devastation, who bears the main
has a police action in this city’ blame for what transpired.

: aroused such widespread : i : :
‘indignation Campbell’s campaign against
8 : : — the youth, bordering on
“I don't believe it. “‘It paranoia, created the

couldn't happen here, but it atmosphere of which last
has.’ This was the almost Saturday's reign of terror was
universal reaction of the public the end result. His public
to press, radio and TV reports campaign against the youth, his
which were unanimous in putting chairmanship of the police
the blame for ‘Bloody Satur- commission, his pressing
day”’ on the police. through measures to arm the
The police attack had all the police with riot equipment such
earmarks of an organized show aS the three-foot clubs, invited
of force to ‘‘teach them a_ last Saturday’s events.
lesson.’ First the mounted
attack by Campbell’s Cossacks
to break up the crowd which up

- Georgia Straight photo

| Mer ° . 5
a i he victim of a police attack with riot

|} step 1 OF CAMPBELL’ is is Rob Eliot, aged 16, who was the vic 'P

| bg lst SERRE ah ge pe Ney Sere on Hastings. According to his story, when he was

| ee down and his leg broken, police said: “Get up or we'll break your other leg.

| YE.WITNESS REPORT:

Alderman Harry Rankin put
his finger on the real culprit
following last Saturday’s events

Police violence everywhere’

g to: that time. was peaceful and ais

te / PAUL BY ; unleashed by the police against getting ready for a dance in ‘the pieces
Xelhy Bc ARNASON subservience. here. | youth. square. It was followed by an ‘‘‘When Campbell started all
“+ Young Communist Violence was Eee are bbed Most people realized that this attack by foot police with riot his screaming about Gastown he
At League saw a kid about 14 ; a4 and police riot was an attempt to equipment and three-foot clubs. was instructing the police to go
: several times about the hea in there and crack heads. Up to

fam 0 B-m. Gastown was
tie With Kids sitting on the
Bitar S and curbs playing
Dm. th Nd dancing. By 9:00
Brey Crowd in the square
leh do, About 1,000 plus, witha
‘hahting «1 @8-waving Yippies
SSitdoy Bans and calling for

v

afte, A hundred sat down
Passed anock “‘joint’’ had been
: ie the square. A few
rested Popped and the crowd
“of th «ad wentup onthe
ane’ Urch g TOpa Hotel.

ras ‘and the atmosphere
jitter wecaceful that this
“Ok for wandered up Cordova to
er action.

ty iseq 622 I was very
Woting to see the crowd

TOUp was singing on .

left bleeding in the street crying
Mommy. I met and interviewed
one person run down by a
motorcycle in the first assault.
When he sought refuge he was
challenged by two horsemen.
When he came out with his hands
up saying ‘‘Don’t hit! We're
coming!’’ he was clubbed from
behind and then either trod on or
kicked by a horse.

Regardless of the aims of the
organizers, many of the victims
had come for an open-air dance
and were shocked by the terror

detract from criticism of
‘operation Dustpan’’ which is
covering for the heroin
traffickers while stirring up
Gastown.

The YCL condemns the police
for its actions and demands that
they crack down on behind-the-
scene Big Business hard-drug

‘traffickers. The small time

users-pushers on Hastings street
or Gastown are not the power
behind what is alledged to be
B.C.’s 5th largest industry the

hard-drug traffic.

Communists demand public probe

r of the Communist Party,

i an, B.C. provincial leade t
iaaed te nates statement concerning last week’s attack by city

tration:
olice on a peaceful demons
“The Communist Party demands an 0

pen public inquiry into the

Scores were injured, bones
were broken, heads were
bloodied, women were dragged
by the hair through broken glass
to paddy wagons. Riot sticks
were used indiscriminately as
clubs. Plainclothes agents
without numbers to identify
them joined in beating up
citizens. Police cars with riot
squads carried on a reign of
terror for blocks around,
arresting and beating up young
people - some six blocks away. It
was reminiscent of Hitler’s
brownshirts.

Scores were badly bruised.
Included among the beaten were
many onlookers and tourists.
Thirty-eight were arrested and
charged with possession of a
dangerous weapon, obstructing,

now it’s been a wasted summer
for Campbell because there have
been no riots. But he gave the
police a signal to start one.

“The police were all geared up
for it and I think Campbell knew
what they were going to do. If
you give a man a three-foot
stick, he’s going to hit people.
We got along without them
before. We never needed to get
them.

“The irresponsble leadership
of this mayor we have is the
main reason this’ thing
happened,” Rankin said.

The overwhelming evidence
that the attack was the fault of
the police and that it was
completely unprovoked has
brought protests even from such

90q Up Cordo lice department. Iti d 3

War va street past gee ‘ngs of the Vancouver po assaulting and causing a

mised 4: and even more administration and see Campbell’s cossacks only becloud the disturbance. From all

nae er. See mounted Riot Stormirogney Dee difficult to get at the big drug syndicates indications these charges should
vb dein issue ang nee roperly have been levelled at

bin 2 ar bad lang operating in our city. blic inquiry and firm action against those the pallies and not their victims.
: hase Nelothes police gave “Nothing less than a pu in the light of the grave charges of Although it was the police who
brutality.’ wielded the clubs and drove their

reactionary NPA aldermen as
Ernie Broome and Ed Sweeney.
Sweeney was an eye-witness to
the events and said publicly he
was aghast at what he saw.

See POLICE, pg. 2

Wey 5 VeTYone who ran or Tesponsible will satisfy our city 1
"©? or anything but

unprovoked attack and extreme