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On the humid night of August 6th, 1988, long-simmering resentments over East Village gentrification boiled over into the now-infamous Tompkins Square Park riot. Hundreds of people had gathered at the park to protest the imposition of a 1 a.m. curfew. At some point, the protest turned violent; bottles were thrown at the police, who retaliated with beatings and arrests throughout the night. According to the Times, forty-four people were injured, including 13 cops.
In time for the 20th anniversary of the riot, a book of photographs by Q. Sakamaki, with essays by author/activist Bill Weinberg, has been published by powerHouse Books. Below are some of the photos Sakamaki took that night and during the summer of '88. For more on the riot, here's a chilling video compiled by photographer Clayton Patterson.
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"bottles were thrown at the police, who retaliated with beatings"
Get your history right. The beatings were unprovoked. The cops showed up with black tape over their badge numbers so they couldn't be identified. This has all been documented.
I lived there in the late 90's and its insane to see how much it has changed. I knew about all of this but I have never seen pictures of it, thanks.
That homeless camp must have smelled like 1000 pounds of shit. I am glad it got cleaned up.
How easily we forget.
NYC actually happens to have an EXTENSIVE list of instances of unprovoked police brutality against the civilian population over the course of its history as a law enforcement institution. I'm talking as far back as 1879 during the heyday of the Metropolitan Police and its infamous precinct capt Alexander "Clubber" Williams who was brought up on brutality charges 358 times and forced to pay 224 fines.
Join a Critical Mass bike ride and feel the spirit of ol' Clubber still among us!.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTmGMkZ0vbo&fmt=18
Last weekend I was there. 75% of the crowd were drunk and high. During the concert bottle and beer cans were flying over my head. Afterwards garbage and broken glass was everywhere. Several volunteers did promptly clean it up.
Bands kept shouting "f*ck the police" over and over and the feral crowd cheered. After the concert, few die-hards walked around the park shouting "die yuppie scum" while parents with little children looked on in disbelief and disgust. My battery died, but there were several people filming, so I am looking forward to other videos popping up.
Yes, the cops were insane and out of control. And I hated what they did. Having said that, the scum that were in Tompkins Square Park back then, they made it impossible for anyone else to go there. And please, I wasn't some yuppie or bougey johnny come lately to the neighborhood. I lived there since 1970, was part of the punk scene at CBGBs but I was fed up with going into the park and having to literally step over shit and needles and being harrased for money I barely had myself. Even artists want to be left alone. So let's not get all misty eyed and glamorize it. Way too many of those peeps were mentally ill and/or substance abusers and/or criminals. I don't miss them, then or now. I was thrilled when they closed down the park and remade it. Sometimes gentrification means everyone can enjoy a public space.
Look at those rioters. Were they decked out in anarchy chic and crusty punk threads with spiky hair? No. The real thing is raw and truly ugly. There's no place in any revolt for fashionista-manques.
it was christmas time for the cops that night.
a girl I knew all of four eleven and 100lbs if that was slammed to a store gate. all she was doing was walking home. so be thankful it wasn't you and was the other guy who got some attitude adjustment.
Critical Mass is one thing, this bunch of drunken hoodlums is something totally different. Who WOULDN'T wanna beat some sense into these vagabonds?. Rather. Perchance is that Grey Poupoun you have there?.
Cops are scum and always will be nothing but scum.
I love all of the press the 1988 riots have been getting. I hope a lot of people, especially the transplants, take notice and become aware there is a lot to fight for in NYC.
Ummm...someone PLEEZ explain to me why we continue to maintain the fashionable dislike of the "YUPPIE" phenomenon? Wasn't the sacrifice of the preceding generations made for the sake of their children going to college and joining the profressions? Aren't all the O'neals, Weissbergs, Santini's, Washingtons, Chois and so on that you see in these condoes the descendents of hardworking immigrants who lived in these LES neighborhoods when they were unhealthy crime infested ghettoes?
The anti-Yuppie thing started because they came into the neighborhood absolutely disrespecting the residents. I like to collect quotes of these Yuppie transplants from over the years and you'd be surprised how they have no respect for New Yorkers.
these guys would have hated me.
According to the NYT, Aug 15, 1988, "More bottles and debris flew from the crowd a few minutes before 1 A.M., witnesses said, and officers began chasing people out of the park. Moments later, mounted officers charged at the knot of protesters in the street."
That of course does not justify the police response.
No one ever said you HAVE to live in Manhattan affordably. Or that you deserved the right to.
bsjunk are you kidding me? Who likes to make these rich slumlords richer? I guess you do. This was once an affordable city with interesting people not just natives but transplants who enriched the city, not this new breed of shit who are destroying it. I guess you fit the latter...
its a never ending story...my trouble with the yuppies, hippies, developers or whatever is that the very VALUE of the city they are buying and selling and trading on was created, maintained and appreciated by the people who have lived in the city through thick and thin. And now those people can't even afford to live in the new new york city - Its a never ending story...its not even the fault of yippies - its the city govt thats failing to protect the people of the city.
I wonder what the park to luxuary condo ratio has been these last few years?
"yuppies disrespecting the neighborhood..?" and the crack adddicts, burglars, felonious assaulters, drunkards, brawlers, etc..they respected the neighborhood? It's called a free market society, look into it. people tend to care for property if they have to PAY for it. What if the government said ok we will put artificial controls on your housing costs but that means you can only buy clothing, shop for food, see movies etc in designated "non-free market" zones. It comes down to- NYC is a nice place to live and certain people want THEIR ability to live there subsidized, even if they can't afford it.-