For the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, we're running a series of stories that look back at some of the people and places closely associated with the countercultural movement.
Fifty years ago last night, a protest against police brutality at the corner of Haight and Ashbury led to a “hippie brawl” that involved as many as 20 young people and 50 police officers.
In a page 3 Chronicle story titled, “A Traffic Jam-In On Haight,” the paper reported that on the night of Sunday, July 9, a group of hippies took to the famed intersection, shouting slogans related to “police brutality” and “police fascism.”
Andy Simmonds, a 24-year-old man who was washing his clothes in a nearby laundromat, said protestors were blocking traffic and harassing drivers.
“They were stopping cars, pretending to take pictures of them, and jumping on bumpers to rock them,” he told the Chronicle. After putting his clothes in the wash, Simmonds emerged from the laundromat and watched the incident escalate after two police officers arrived and called in reinforcements.
After additional squad cars rolled up, police began ordering the crowd of approximately 75 hippies to move onto the sidewalk. During the hubbub, a man who was in custody in the back of an unattended squad car made a break for it.
Fifteen officers pursued the escapee down the street for half a block, “leaving a girl prisoner unguarded in the car,” reported the Chronicle.
Along the way, “they hit several with night sticks,” said Simmonds. “One blond guy refused to move and was knocked to the street with a blow on the side of his head. He began to bleed.”
In all, the paper reported that four people were injured and nine others were arrested in the incident; the individuals arrested were booked on a range of charges, including inciting to riot, battery, refusing to disperse and resisting arrest.
A 26-year-old female resident of Alma Street suffered a broken jaw during the disturbance; a policeman on the scene received a bruised jaw, while two others were treated for lacerations.
