The Incident
After the ship docked, the crowd advanced down the dock. The police had set up a "dead line" that the protesters were not supposed to cross. The mob, however, crossed it, despite police protests. This led to the police throwing about a dozen tear gas grenades into the crowd. Among the protesters were members of the Hawaii Territorial Guard who took action and threw tear gas grenades back at the police or away from the crowd. They were also instrumental in providing the unions police plans on how the police were going to react to the strike. The tear gas did cause some protesters to leave and temporary confusion, but after regrouping, the crowd kept on advancing.
Meanwhile, the police were getting ready to bring out the fire truck hoses. The police then proceeded to spray the crowd with water. During this, the police made no attempt to make any arrests, being unsure whether or not they had the jurisdiction to carry out arrests. The protesters eventually regrouped.
The protesters remained peaceful the vast majority of the time, sitting down and refusing to leave when confronted by any police officers.
Sheriff Henry K. Martin ordered the police officers to change out their ammunition from buckshot to birdshot intending to disperse the crowd without fatalities. Police warned the demonstrators they would fire on them if they did not disperse voluntarily few heeded the warning. At 10:20 AM, Lieutenant Charles Warren stabbed one of the protesters in the back with a bayonet. The police then opened fire for five minutes on the crowd with both birdshot and buckshot among police officers who failed to hear the orders. At least 16 rounds of ammunition were fired, and at least 50 people shot, including two women and two children.
Read more about this topic: Hilo Massacre
Famous quotes containing the word incident:
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