Mayday 1971: Most arrests in US history

[LiberalEsto]

12. Addendum to original post

When my buddies and I made plans to participate in May Day, we decided to only do non-violent civil disobedience. Which is all they did. I didn't even sit down in the street because my role was to make sure they got out of jail afterward.

The general plan for May Day was for people to sit down and block the streets and roads of DC to stop the US government from doing business. The idea was to stop the war machine for just one day.

According to the radio and newspapers, DC commuters were outraged at having to sit in stopped traffic for a couple of hours. The cops, both DC and US Capital Police, joined by cops from nearby jurisdictions, absolutely went berserk, rounding up everyone they saw, including many who were not participants in the protests. Arrestees were herded into RFK Stadium by the hundreds.

My buddies wound up in what was then called Occoquan Prison, south of DC in Virginia. That's where I picked them up. It took a lot of doing just to find out where they were.

The May Day protest was huge, and it made a huge statement about how sick people were of the Vietnam War. I am proud to have played a small part in it.