Jun 17, 2009 5:37 am US/Central
1968 Riot Cops Organize Reunion
Copwatch Group To Protest
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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A protester confronts National Guard troops outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Aug. 29, 1968.
AP
Chicago Police officers who clashed with protesters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention are planning a reunion.
Members of the Fraternal Order of Police say the union will hold a "Chicago Riot Cops Reunion" on June 26 to mark what until now hasn't been considered one of the proud moments in Chicago Police Department history.
The union's Web site says the officers will be honored and recognized for their contributions to maintaining law and order, and for taking a "stand against anarchy."
"The Democratic National Convention was about to start and the only thing that stood between Marxist street thugs and public order was a thin blue line of dedicated, tough Chicago police officers," the Web site said.
The union blames the "collective Left" for the historical impression of the convention violence, which many sources characterize as a police riot.
"Chicago Police officers who participated in the riots continue to endure unending criticism - all of which is unwarranted, inaccurate and wrong," the Web site said.
The event will feature photos, displays, a guest speaker and food. Former police Supt. Phil Cline will be a keynote speaker, and Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass has also been invited.
Meanwhile, the watchdog group Chicago Copwatch is organizing a march to the reunion site the same night of the police event, and is using dramatic language to promote it.
"Officers who cracked heads at the Democratic Convention… will be hobnobbing with today's police who are still occupying our communities and phalanxing our rallies," the Chicago Copwatch Facebook page said.
The group plans to rally at Union Park at Ashland Avenue and Lake Street, and march to the FOP lodge with "effigies and dolls of riot police." The group says they have filed a permit for the event.
At the start of the convention in August 1968, members of the political activist group the Yippies and other protesters gathered in Lincoln Park for what was billed a "Festival of Life" and a protest against the Vietnam War.
Clashes with police began when officers tried to enforce a curfew in Grant Park, and escalated in the days afterward.
On Wednesday night during the convention, video showed officers beating protesters and bystanders outside the Chicago Hilton and Towers. Some protesters threw objects and sprayed caustic substances at officers. As the night went on, the situation worsened.
"Officers pushed people through a plate-glass window and then, according to witnesses, attacked the dazed victims as they lay amid broken glass," the Chicago Tribune reports. "A group of police cheered a soldier as he bashed a demonstrator and attacked a photographer who filmed the scene."
At the time of the clash between police and protesters, many Chicagoans came out in favor of police actions. But during the convention at the International Amphitheatre, U.S. Sen. Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut decried "Gestapo tactics" on the streets, prompting an angry response from Mayor Richard J. Daley.
The incident led to charges of rioting and conspiracy to riot against eight people, and the theatrical Chicago 7 trial.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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