The Gastown Riots occurred in Vancouver, Canada, in 1971. Following weeks of arrests by undercover agents in Vancouver as part of a special police operation directed by Mayor Tom Campbell, police attacked a small protest demonstration in Gastown against the use of undercover agents and in favour of the legalization of marijuana. Tom Campbell later attempted to invoke the War Measures Act against hippies and draft-dodgers. Vancouver (pronounced: ) is a Canadian city in the province of British Columbia. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... Thomas J. Campbell, Q.C. (born October 5, 1927) is a retired Canadian politician, who served as mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia from 1967 through 1972. ... Statue of Gassy Jack, Gastown. ... A Cannabis sativa plant The drug cannabis, also called marijuana, is produced from parts of the cannabis plant, primarily the cured flowers and gathered trichomes of the female plant. ... The War Measures Act (enacted in August 1914, replaced by the Emergencies Act in 1988) was a Canadian statute that allowed the government to assume sweeping emergency powers. ...

This demonstration involved a four-foot long false spliff. Police were accused of heavy-handed tactics including indiscriminate beatings with their newly-issued riot batons. They also used, for the first time, horse-backed charges on crowds of onlookers and tourists.The mayor, Tom Campbell did lose the next local election. This riot was also known as the GRASSTOWN RIOT""> I was born, and bred In Vancouver, myself and several friends attended the 'SMOKE IN' as It was advertised,we wanted to see the 4 foot long joint[fake].It was a very peaceful day,I didn't recognize any 'misbehaviour'at that time or any other time[as far as the spectators are concerned] of the police Intervention.I was 18 years old, I didn't have a care In the world.There were some speeches ,that were somewhat difficult to hear,but none the less the people got the drift of what was going on.As a speaker was talking there became a kind of noise far afar,It became louder and louder ,with the music,and people talking in the crowd plus the speech maker It was difficult to figure out just what the noise was.until I saw horses bashing through crowds of people, did this blow my mind,the cops rode those animals like the romans In their chariots,swinging their riot sticks. No mercy was show, In the mean time I found a safe haven with a great view.The cops were swinging at anyone.I wittnessed a woman and child get mowed down to the ground by one of the irate cops.I watched people jumping down stairwells to avoid the crush from the horses.To say the cops were doing their job would be a huge misconception and lie.There was discontemp,and anger In these cops faces,they seemed to react to our gathering as very personal.AS the riot proceeded It moved from water street over to the next block,to where the war memorial lies[?]. It was a 'bizzare' scene.there were people running across the street jumping over moving cars,oh ya man, the traffic was moving,then the horses were attempting to jump over the hoods of cars.I wittnesd the screeming of people blended with the screeming of tires from drivers hitting there brakes,along with the horseshoes pounding on the metal fenders and hoods of passing cars.This was nothing unlike anything that ever happened before to me In my time, or to Vancouver .I sat down to write this today september 14, 15, 2006, some 35 years later,I remember like It was just a couple of weeks ago.as you can probably tell I'm not a writer. I wrote this because I just printed out a picture from the province,dated August 11 1971 their happend to be a picture taken before the riot of all the people,myself and my friend just happen to be In the picture.my writing starts at the words>'the mayor Tom Campbell ...and ends here...oh ya I just happened to be In the rolling stones riot the very next year, go figure, It was nothing like Gastown,... now this is the end of my writing [frank florio east Vancouver]oh ya by the way, just below me the writer says that videos show the cops smashing windows... It was the horses. Disorder spread throughout the downtown district. Videos showed police smashing windows in passing vehicles and buses. A spliff. ...

An inquiry (The Gastown Inquiry) followed in which police agents who had infiltrated civic groups testified that the entire incident was organized by professional revolutionaries including local poets Richard Rathwell, Michael Boughn and others. Rathwell was also later named in the Houses of Parliament by the Solicitor-General as one of Canada's most dangerous revolutionaries, following the invasion of the United States by anti-war protesters at Blaine, Washington which occurred soon after the Gastown Riots Richard Rathwell (1944-) is a Canadian novelist and poet. ... Blaine is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...