Pubdate: Tue, 07 Aug 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Authors: John Mackie with Kevin Griffin and Carolyn Soltau

This Day in History: August 7, 1971

On this day in 1971, pro-marijuana activists spread the word that a
giant "smoke-in" was going to be held at Maple Tree Square in Gastown.

The Vancouver police showed up on horseback to monitor the
proceedings, which included an impromptu chant against hippie-hating
Vancouver mayor Tom Campbell and a speech against the police's
anti-drug campaign Operation Dustpan.

The 1,500 people who showed up for the "Grasstown Smoke-In and Street
Jamboree" cheered when a trio of young men clambered up on a balcony
at the Hotel Europe and mooned the crowd.

The police didn't think it was funny, however. They moved into the
crowd on horseback, swinging their batons and causing mass panic.

Charles Traynor owned a Gastown record store.

"[The police] were brutal,'' he said in 2001.

"They really were. They came in swinging. They didn't ask people to
move, they came in swinging. There were a lot of people getting banged
up."

Traynor stood in front of his store, "hollering'' at police and trying
to get their badge numbers.

"A couple of them came along and cracked me over the head and dragged
me off and threw me in the paddy wagon," said Traynor, who spent the
night in jail but was never charged.

Seventy-nine people were arrested in the Gastown Riot, but only 38
wound up being charged for offences ranging from causing a disturbance
to possession of a dangerous weapon.

Charges against several people were dismissed, some received minor
fines, and one man was sentenced to four-and-a-half months in jail for
throwing a brick at police. Police officer John Whitelaw was demoted
to second-class constable over an incident in which protester Robert
Elliott had his leg broken.

Artist Stan Douglas recreated a scene from the Gastown Riot for a
giant photograph that was commissioned for the Woodward's project. It
is in the courtyard of the complex.
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