Kent State protests
The Kent State protests of May 1970 began with violence and arson and ended in the deaths of four students.
During the demonstration on May 1, 1970, "a mix of bikers, students, and out-of town youths" [1] assaulted police with beer bottles.
The governor called out the National Guard.
On May 2, the ROTC was found ablaze. Protesters surrounded the building, cut a fire hose and assaulted fire fighters with "rocks and other objects". [1]
On May 3, protesters defying a curfew by the mayor were dispersed by guardsmen using tear gas.
On May 4, around 2,000 people gathered for a previously planned protest rally, despite the university's announcement of a ban or cancellation. When a police official ordered the crowd to disperse, his Jeep was "pelted with rocks" and one guardsman was injured. [2] The two guard units advanced with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets and partly succeeded in dispersing the crowd, but remaining students threw rocks and tear gas canisters at the guardsmen.
Without any apparent orders, some guardsmen opened fire. Shots were fired into the air, into the ground, but also directly at people. A total of 67 shots were fired, hitting 13 people and killing 4 of them.
Although the adjutant general of the Ohio National Guard said that a sniper had fired a shot, many Americans felt that there was no justification for the guardsmen to fire into the crowd at all. [2]
The protest song "Ohio," written by Neil Young, was inspired by the Kent State shootings.
Notes
- ↑ Firemen left the scene after hoses were punctured and cut open, unable to extinguish the blaze. [http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/4may70/exhibit/chronology/index.html Kent State Library chronology
- ↑ "The indiscriminate firing of rifles into a crowd of students and the deaths that followed were unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable." (Scranton Commission Report, 1970, p. 87) cited in The May 4 Shootings at Kent State University: The Search por Historical Accuracy by Jerry M. Lewis And Thomas R. Hensley
