June 5, 1995
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey — Some 500 people marched here May 17 to protest police brutality and demand justice for Julio Tarquino. He was arrested, handcuffed, and brutally beaten by off-duty police officers May 8. He died five days later.
Tarquino, 22, had stopped at a gas station, where he got into a confrontation with two men [who used a racial slur against him]. Off-duty cop John Chiusolo ran up and began hitting Tarquino. Tarquino was repeatedly kicked in the head while on the ground.
On May 9, nearly 150 protesters stormed into the Jersey City Council meeting to demand justice for Tarquino. Under increasing pressure, Jersey City authorities charged Chiusolo with murder. Many in the crowd expressed the view that the arrest of Chiusolo was just the beginning of the struggle. “We want him tried on homicide charges,” said Tony Morales.
June 5, 1970
LOS ANGELES — Aided by students and backed by other unionists, striking Teamsters here drove a major wedge in the united front of employers who had banded together in an effort to housebreak their union by weeding out militant rank-and-filers.
The break came when over-the-road operators yielded to the union demands ensuring amnesty for striking workers.
While the striking members of the Teamsters did not have the support of the officials of their international union, solidarity actions by fellow unionists in San Francisco and elsewhere in California were a major factor in the present victory.
With the union picketing limited by injunction, some individual strikers sought out students, who would not be liable under the injunction, to maintain the picket line at several key freight terminals.
June 2, 1945
In the first colonial uprising in the wake of Germany’s defeat, the people of Syria are engaged in fierce street battles with the troops of French imperialism. Syria and Lebanon, grabbed by the French government after World War I, were promised their freedom in 1939. When the war broke out the British, in connivance with the Free French Government, marched in to take control of this strategic territory with its valuable oil fields.
French garrisons have been augmented by Senegalese troops and native Syrian conscripts. In a week-long series of strikes, the Syrian people protested against the use of these troops to enforce French domination.
The Syrian National Guard issued a call for 5,000 recruits and 15,000 volunteered. Many Syrians conscripted into the French army are deserting and going over to the National Guard.