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After hearing about a riot in Central Square this weekend, I thought I would google and see if I could find out anything about it. I didn't find any news, but I did find this Harvard Crimson article from April 16, 1970. It is very hard to picture Harvard Square like this today. It is also hard to reconcile this with my memories of going to Harvard Square every Saturday morning with my family to go to bookstores, the Coffee Connection, Briggs & Briggs for music stuff, etc, just a few years later. I remember being curious about the metal gates on the shops but I suppose I eventually took them for granted. I worked a couple of summers at a store that had been in the Square since the 60s, and even in the late 80s we still pulled the big metal grate over the entrance closed every night.
Just the first seven words seem somewhat incomprehensible today:
"Streetfighting raged in the Harvard Square area for more than four hours last night, as police used nightsticks and tear gas to disperse a crowd which began at 1500 and grew to nearly 3000 at its peak.
The demonstrators-who entered the Square on a march from the Boston Common led by the November Action Coalition-set fire to two buildings, looted stores, and gutted two police cars with fire."
Just the first seven words seem somewhat incomprehensible today:
"Streetfighting raged in the Harvard Square area for more than four hours last night, as police used nightsticks and tear gas to disperse a crowd which began at 1500 and grew to nearly 3000 at its peak.
The demonstrators-who entered the Square on a march from the Boston Common led by the November Action Coalition-set fire to two buildings, looted stores, and gutted two police cars with fire."
