In recent weeks, the Post and other media outlets have attempted to whip up fear around Tompkins Square Park with op-eds and stories about homeless people and crime, and the NYPD rolled in one of its sniper towers to monitor activity in the park (it later got its own Twitter account), before rolling it back out. Conditions now are still a far cry from the late Eighties, when police clashed with the homeless, punk rockers, and other locals over a curfew at the park, a response to the community board’s urging. This past weekend, the 27th anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park Riot of July 30, 1988 (or the Tompkins Square Park Police Riot, depending on who you talk to), was remembered with music and activism.
Photos by C.S. Muncy for the Village Voice