Fight the Power: The 1988 Tompkins Square Park Police Riot

One of the more violent nights in New York City in the past 25 years.

Aug 06, 2012
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Fight the Power

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Tompkins Square Park was not unfamiliar with protests before Aug. 6, 1988. In 1874, the New York City Police Department cut a violent swath through an uprising of thousands of discontented and unemployed citizens—an incident that would eerily echo over a century later.

In 1988, bad blood boiled between residents of the East Village, and the “denizens, drug pushers and skinheads” that were reported by newspapers to be living in the Park. Mayor Ed Koch imposed a 1 a.m. curfew at the park, though it did nothing to ease the mounting tension. On August 6, a protest of the curfew developed quickly into a brawl between hundreds of protesters and 450 riot police. Dozens of police and protesters were hospitalized, including several bystanders who were attacked without provocation.

After complaints and evidence from the riot were reviewed, it was determined—in conjunction with Police Commissioner Ben Ward’s scathing statements—that police were in the wrong and had instigated the riot. The following photo gallery and video of the events that transpired give a glimpse into the raw brutality of that summer night. 

Protesting

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The protesters

[via Inside New York]

Gathering

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Protesters begin to gather

[via New York Times]

Demonstration

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Protesters collect to demonstrate

[via New York Times]

Crowd Control

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Police arrive to control the crowd

[via NO!art]

Horseback

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Police reinforcements arrive on horseback

[via NO!art]

Unruly

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Police and protesters become unruly

[via NO!art]

Marching

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A violent police presence causes the situation to escalate

[via NO!art]

Handcuffed

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Several rioters are arrested amidst the violence

[via NO!art]

Nightsticks

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Police resort to using nightsticks against the crowd

[via Pairs of Chairs]

Fighting Back

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Protesters respond by throwing anything at hand at police

[via The Villager]

Rioters

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Protesters push through Tompkins Square Park

[via The Villager]

Threatening

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The threat of police action was not enough to stop the protesters

[via NO!art]

Brutalized

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An injured protester

[via NO!art]

Violence

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Excessive violence was especially problematic

[via NO!art]

Hospitalized

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Many were hospitalized as a result of the confrontation

[via NO!art]

Resisting

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Protesters continued to resist even after being injured

[via Trans-Asia Photography Review]

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