Days of Rage
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The Days of Rage riots in Chicago took place over a 4-day period beginning October 8, 1969, after members of the Weathermen, a militant offshoot of the Students for a Democratic Society, converged on the city to confront police in the streets in response to the trial of the group of anti-Vietnam War activists known as the "Chicago Eight".
The riot began following a three-hour rally in the city's Lincoln Park, a meeting that had begun with the construction of a bonfire. During the course of the rally, at least a dozen park benches were destroyed to keep the flames alive, with Weathermen members closing by urging the 600 attendees to "tear down the Drake Hotel and get Hoffman," a reference to trial judge Julius Hoffman.
Heading both north and south on Clark Street, the rampaging mob broke windows and damaged cars along the way. This continued for several days, causing a large amount of property damage. One person was killed and many demonstrators were arrested. Some of the Weathermen members became fugitives and went underground when they failed to appear for trial in connection with their arrests during the riots; some only resurfaced decades later.
[edit] References
- Sale, Kirkpatrick. SDS. New York: Random House, 1973. ISBN 0394478894
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