ipl-logo

Gastown Riot Essay

990 Words4 Pages

The GasTown Riot of 1971 was a crucial turning point in the history of Vancouver. This pivotal riot had taken place in the neighbourhood of GasTown on August 7th, 1971 (Boudreau 2021). The Saturday consisted of a riot between police and the Youth International Party who were in opposition to the illegalization of marijuana as well as the protesting against Operation Dustpan (Clément 2020) which was intended to insert undercover units to hold drug users accountable for their actions (Miceli 2018). Although intentions of the youth were peaceful, police broke out this smoke-in protest in violence and hostility causing a significant division between these two groups. This division had an effect on society as well, both politically and generationally. …show more content…

The community became largely segregated into elders and public versus youth. Hippies and yippies were viewed as the“parasites on the community” (Miceli 2018) causing not only a division between society, but the feeling of being unwanted, targeted, and attacked by police and the public. “Booth’s suggestions were in keeping with the police department’s view that the best way to deal with the “hippie problem” was through “strict law enforcement,” which translated into young people who congregated on West 4th Avenue being regularly stopped by police…These tactics soon resulted in tensions and confrontations between police and youth, the latter of whom felt they were being harassed.” (Boudreau 2019). This had officially created tensions and set the division between police and youth. “In 1970, after being given notice to evict a temporary youth hostel at Jericho Base, hundreds of hippies remained holed up in the building, refusing to leave. The Vancouver Police came and, armed with batons and donning helmets, they forcibly removed the squatters. It was a violent skirmish leaving many injured and homeless” (Miceli 2018). This shows the societal hatred of youth, the increasing and continuous violence proves to show the conservative elders’ views and how it affected youth by banning them from certain locations and publicizing their hatred …show more content…

The riot represented the ongoing efforts of the state with the amounts of police brutality and the public inquiries to end protests and public debates over political issues to preserve the law of order. Younger people were also against the idea of facism, where most adult conservatives would disagree, again creating that division between the population which is an ongoing situation leading to the present. We can tell today that many older conservatives versus younger leftists still have this “debate” of politics which may end in verbal aggression or other forms of violence (Boudreau 2019). There has been little progress regarding relations between youth and police although it isn’t so significant. The aftermath of the GasTown Riot consisted of many arrests, charges, injuries, and destruction. Youth were seen as the “bad people '' after being blamed for mass destruction and public disturbance. Although, police got immense backlash from their actions, “The cops were beating up people in restaurants, and tourists, and the backlash in the report was so negative that I don’t think (the police) ever got violent with us (Yippies) again,” (Mackie 2021). This comes to prove that some progress had been achieved with somewhat lasting implications. Moving towards the present, specifically discussing the legalization of marijuana in October 2018. The following decades after this riot had implemented the legalization of

Show More
Related
1772 Words | 8 Pages

Riots happen today for many reasons the reaction has generally been the same as it was in The Lynchings in Duluth, call the National Guard. Police departments have been getting better and better as time goes on, they are more professional, better trained and better equipped yet large scale violence is still too much for them to handle. The difference between now and the 1920s is that if the national guard is called it will likely be known around the world with in minutes if not seconds of the troops deployment, this kind of publicity leads to much more caution being taken when calling the National Guard because if the violence is not bad enough then there may be an outcry and if it happens to late and the rioting gets out of hand than the public will be mad because of the lack of action. In the twenties the government had much more leeway when it came to handling things in somewhat less than ethical ways because news didn’t travel anywhere even remotely close as it does today and elections did not hang on whether or not a riot was handled properly or not as long as everything worked out at the

Read More
423 Words | 2 Pages

The dirty hippie is easy to spot. They are the person with hair down their back, wearing a tie-dye shirt and blue jeans and may or may not be listening to The Grateful Dead in their heads. But take caution, the hippie can lure vulnerable adolescents from their homes and coerce them into living the Flower-child lifestyle. Who are these social outcasts who have been spreading love, flower power and an aversion to showers?

Read More
614 Words | 3 Pages

When the crowd refused to disperse, Neville fired on the crowd, injuring several and killing one of the protestors. About a month later angry citizens assembled in arms at Braddock’s Field near Pittsburgh, declaring their willingness to oppose the government policy by force of arms. What had begun as a tax protest had escalated into an armed rebellion” (Cornell

Read More
1131 Words | 5 Pages

Houston Riot Of 1917 By Ashley Sloan   In the beginning of World War, I as the United States declared war with Germany, African American soldiers were ordered to Camp Logan and Ellington in Harris county to prepare for the war. “On July 27, 1917, the Army ordered the Third Battalion of the Twenty-Fourth United States Infantry Regiment to Houston to guard the Camp Logan construction site.

Read More
1802 Words | 8 Pages

“The Trigger for the 1992: Los Angeles Riots” The riot of 1992 Los Angeles is not the first one to happen throughout our American history. It is the common civilized way for people to protest about any injustices or certain events that they’re unhappy with like for example immigration reform, racism, women’s rights, stamp act and including the 1992: Los Angeles riots etc…. Most of the occasions they tend to turn out to violent and disruptive to the community because they either destroy public property or there issues with the law enforcement. Riots have been successful the best way for a community to be heard on their yearning injustices, but the downfall has been that people have been adopting

Read More
1231 Words | 5 Pages

The outbreak of the ‘October Crisis’ began on October 5th, 1970 when kidnappings of two diplomats were implemented by the notorious Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). This led to the invocation of the War Measures Act (WMA) by Prime Minister (PM) Pierre Trudeau on October 16th, 1970. It marked the first time in Canadian history the WMA was enacted during peacetime and put Trudeau in a unique position. This man who had previously campaigned for the entrenchment of civil rights within Canada’s constitution, had now passed legislation to temporarily remove them.

Read More
159 Words | 1 Pages

The focus of this study is on the 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma race riot. Although there was a major impact on the entire community, this paper will only focus on the riot’s impact on the “black” community and the local government’s actions in response to the impact. I will evaluate the extent of which the local government’s response to the race riot of 1921 increased the negative effects on the black community. I will compare the records the Red Cross, the National Guard, and other groups to find consistency between the recorded death tolls and other relevant information. Then, I will compare an interview with Olivia Hooker, a survivor of the riot, to online sources to better understand the social climate which the local government was operating

Read More
1353 Words | 6 Pages

The Rodney King Riot happened in Los Angeles in the year of 1992. Rodney King was an African American male who was arrested on charges because of speeding, drunk driving, and refusing to stop his vehicle. Four police officers who have claimed to have witnessed King’s actions such as being high on drugs and was trying to attack them explains why they did what they did. A resident nearby by the name of George Holliday captured about 12 minutes of the attack on film. King was tasered, brutally beaten with side-handled batons, then forced to the ground to lie still which was where he was handcuffed.

Read More
1038 Words | 5 Pages

“At approximately 2:49 that afternoon, with more than 5,600 runners still in the race, two pressure-cooker bombs–packed with shrapnel and other materials and hidden in backpacks that were placed on the ground amidst crowds of marathon-watchers–exploded within seconds of each other near the finish line along Boylston Street. The blasts instantly turned the sun-filled afternoon into a gruesome scene of destruction and chaos” (“Boston Marathon Bombings”). Soon after the attack a manhunt set out in search for the two suspects. Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were the Boston Marathon Bombers who caused an unexpected event that led to the manhunt. The bombings, along with the manhunt caused much chaos and destruction to the city as well as to the

Read More
1075 Words | 5 Pages

Evidence of those changes were inherent in the way young people described social behavior, alcohol, cigarettes and other factors of those times.” (Bulletin) Currently, there are words to describe the social situations young people find themselves in, just like the young of the past. Instead of “speakeasies” that are used to bypass the law, young college students of today create “safe spaces” on college campuses because the law isn’t doing enough to protect them against hate crime. Everything about the social movement in those times is reflected back in the current era, as well as most of the eras in between them.

Read More
558 Words | 3 Pages

The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a “patriot”. They were throwing sticks, snowballs, and trash at a group of British troops. The loyalists got very annoyed with the patriots so they shot into the mob killing five. The riot began when around 50 colonists attacked a British sentinel. A British officer called in for additional troops

Read More
1967 Words | 8 Pages

The New York Draft Riots were one of America 's most decimating mobs. It started as a gentle rally against the national draft, however, turn took a more terrible as it turned out to be all the more a racial battle. In the book, The Gangs of New York, Asbury gives an exceptionally top to the bottom depiction of the New York Draft Riot. As indicated by Asbury, "The battling seethed through the road of New York City from Monday to Saturday, it had started as a dissent against the Conscription

Read More
364 Words | 2 Pages

We learned that over the last 40 years the police department of the City of Miami and Miami- Dade County have experienced their share of civil disturbances. To illustrate, there have four cases of race riots between both police departments which led to innovation to be involved in their pursuits to better their responses. These were the race riots in 1968, the Liberty City Riot, 1980, the McDuffie Riot, 1982 Luis Alvarez Riots, and 1989 Loranzo Riots within the Liberty City over town areas. However, the article stated that these riots were resulted by either police shooting of young black men, or thanks to the federal government the deporting of a young Cuban boy. Thus, it was not until the civil arrest of the 1980’s McDuffie Riot which seemed

Read More
1015 Words | 5 Pages

The Tulsa Race Riot was the destruction of Black Wall Street in 1921, which was caused by an allegation of a white woman accusing a black man of rape. It lasted from May 31st to June 1st. The Tulsa Race Riot caused plenty of damage from “dozens of deaths [and] hundreds of injuries” to the destruction of Black Wall Street leading to unemployment of the black community (Hoberock n. pag.). An estimated property loss was over $2.3 million. This was an important event in our Nation’s history because “it teaches how far hatred [and violence] can go” (Hoberock n. pag.).

Read More
1886 Words | 8 Pages

It was a time when the youths voices were starting to be heard. Many people connect the 60s with peace a time when the phrase “make love not war” became a standard. However, beyond popular belief the 60s was a time of hostility and violence. Examples of this include the assassination of John F. Kennedy and equal rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., violence in the streets, and the war in South East Asia. In a time where violence was occurring almost everywhere, the youth began to make their voices heard.

Read More

More about Gastown Riot Essay

Related Topics

Open Document