October 16, 1970
NEW YORK - Four rat-infested, overcrowded municipal
jails, their cells jammed with Black and Puerto Rican
inmates most of whom are awaiting trial, became the setting
last week for a full-fledged prison revolt as several
thousand embittered prisoners seized hostages and laid down
demands for lower bails, speedier trials and an end to
intolerable conditions.
The rebellion erupted in the Long Island City branch of the Queens House of Detention Oct. 1 and spread with chain- reaction swiftness to jails in Brooklyn, Manhattan and briefly to Rikers Island.
The revolt ended in a double cross. While [Mayor John] Lindsay met with a prisoner's delegation inside the Queens jail Oct. 5, outside, correctional officers attacked the inmates who were attempting to surrender. Guards wielding nightsticks, iron pipes, pickaxe handles and baseball bats converged on several hundred surrendering inmates in a bloody assault as three horrified reporters watched. The attack came shortly after Lindsay had promised no reprisals if the 300 inmates surrendered peacefully.
Three thousand community residents demonstrated at the Brooklyn jail Oct. 3 and it was clear that large segments of the community sympathized with their brothers inside.
October 13, 1945
The drive of Allied imperialism to crush the rising
colonial movement for independence in the Far East continued
this week on the two fronts of Indo-China and Java. In both
lands the imperialists sought a "truce" with nationalist
forces.
In Java, the British made four landings at Batavia. Some 1,700 liberated Dutch prisoners of war have been armed. Another 10,000 Dutch troops are now en route from "Europe and America," according to a Netherland diplomatic spokesman in Australia.
Meanwhile the Indonesian Republic has taken over some of Java's principal cities, including Soerabaja and Bandoeng. In these cities, which have not yet been attacked by the Allies, the Japanese despots lost control to the nationalists.
The picture in Indo-China is essentially the same. A "truce" was negotiated with the Annamese nationalists. Before the "truce" was reached, the British in Saigon, using mortars, machine-guns, and rifles drove the Annamese from the outskirts of the city. The Japanese, fighting under Allied orders, killed 40 to 50 Annamese on September 39.
Two French battleships arrived at Saigon October 3. French paratroopers broke up an unarmed demonstration of 1,500 Annamese in Saigon October 7, while in Paris, spokesmen of the nationalist movement were arrested for demanding freedom for Indo-China.