Word: trolley
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...however, is in its unwillingness to accept the fact that a riot can be dangerous and that the rioters may have to take the consequences of their participation. If we have permission to hold a rally in the Square, that is fine; but when some of us start disconnecting trolley wires, pounding on police cars, attempting to overturn cars, and blocking traffic, we must expect the Cambridge police to attempt to disperse us before more damage is done. But how can they disperse a riot? To tell everyone to go home, or to reason with a crowd of college boys...
When the riot squad first arrived, it was faced with a relatively inactive crowd, which unfortunately included a few students who liked to pull trolley wires. By slugging a few undergraduates on the head, the police were sure of raising more of a rumpus than ever existed before their arrival. They did. Most disturbances are terminated by the apprehension of those who are causing the trouble, which in this case was a small number, not by ostentatious brutality. Mr. Verba's argument that force was the most suitable weapon with which to disperse the rally is refuted by the fact...
This assumes that those present were there expecting a riot, which was not the case last Thursday. The occasion then was an authorized demonstration in honor of a cartoonist, and the majority of the demonstrators had no interest in pulling trolley wires or over-turning automobiles. The rally became something of a riot only when the police arrived in force, and it is difficult to expect everyone present to scamper off quickly before the object of their interest had arrived. In this particular case, there was obviously no riot in the usual sense of that word, and the Mere Presence...
...turnout of three or four thousand students (as was had on occasions), marching down Oxford and Regent Streets, across Piccadilly Circus and on through the center of London. This accompanied by "removing" of policeman's helmets, dousing them with water and other highly irregular actions--even pulling loose the trolley pole of trackless trolleys; an action which a student here now regrets...
...remember the little pranks and foolish escapades of several students. It is not only this face-slapping record. It is an accumulation of all the trivial stunts of students through the years that can hurt a college's reputation. That includes the water-bomb incidents, the disengaged trolley wires, goldfish swallowing, etc. Things like that give the public the impression that colleges are nothing but kindergartens in which well-to-do young men idle away their time...