A cousin of mine was a cop back then. He was on duty in Grant Park when the riots occurred. (I don't remember if the riots occurred over more than one day, or if one day the riots were particularly bad.) My cousin is and was one of the most honorable people I've ever known. After he was promoted out of uniform, he would serve many years as a plain clothes cop before retiring. He currently lives in retirement...
Anyway, a few months after the riots, my family had lunch with my cousin and his family and we got to talking about the riots. We asked him what it was really like.
He said it was horrible. He said that the "hippies" were presented as peaceful and non-violent in the media, but that throughout the crowds there were people throwing whatever they could at the cops, attacking the cops anyway they could, and that _all_ the hippies would spit on any policeman who came near them... He said the police did everything they could to keep the situation peaceful and orderly. It was only when the hippies went crazy that the police used what force they felt was appropriate.
[shrugs]
Believe me, my cousin had no reason to lie. Our families are pretty diverse, and did not pressure him to tell his side in one way or another.
Take it for what it's worth. It's just one brief memory, of one policeman's recollection. I believe it.
Mark W.
Thousands of demonstrators, marching in lock step, wearing helmets. They expected a confrontation. The polizei warned them, and then let loose with water cannons. They scattered pretty quickly, although there were some rocks and bottles thrown. German police are far stricter than Chicago.
I will always believe those demonstrations were coordinated world-wide. I also believe the media were accomplices.
Consider the actions of J Edgar Hoover wiretapping Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement, and the COINTELPRO program against anti-war organizations in the late 60's. Consider the decision by Daley to wait for months (and then deny) permits for legally-compatible political rallies in Chicago parks. More than a fair case could be made that these decisions reflected an official political bias.
This would explain the apparent provocations against the Police and would also explain the angry reaction among the non-violent protestors -- many of whom were most interested in getting stoned, listening to music, sleeping in the park at night, and making their point in front of the cameras.