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Today in Labor History August 25, 1968: The Battle of Lincoln Park occurred during the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Roughly 10,000 demonstrators battled approximately 11,000 riot police, 6,000 National Guard, 7,500 US army troops and 1,000 FBI, CIA & army/navy intelligence services agents. The Democratic Convention riots occurred in the wake of a year of unrest. In April, there were riots in over 100 U.S. cities, after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June. The incumbent president, Johnson, was so unpopular that he dropped out of the race rather than face the humiliation of coming in 3rd. Mayor Daley vowed that no radicals would be allowed to protest in his city. SDS leader Todd Gitlin warned, “If you come to Chicago, be sure to wear some armor in your hair,” stealing a line from the infamous flower child song, “If You Come to San Francisco.” Yippie leaders, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, threatened to spike the water supply of the International Amphitheatre with LSD and send in studs to seduce the wives of Democratic Party delegates. They also released a pig at Civic Center Plaza, who they nominated to run as the Democratic nominee for president.Police, FBI and even the CIA had infiltrated virtually every activist group participating in the demonstrations. After four days riots, 668 people had been arrested, 425 were treated at temporary medical facilities, 200 were treated on the spot, 400 had been given first aid for tear gas exposure and 110 went to hospital. A total of 192 police officers were injured. Afterward, 8 activists were tried on conspiracy charges in the infamous Chicago 7 trial (Black Panther Bobby Seale was the 8th defendant, but his case ended in mistrial, after he’d been gagged and dragged from the courtroom), leaving 7 other defendants.