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HISTORY * USA - The day Five Points became a riot zone
The gas riots of June 1979
Bucks County,PENN,USA -The Bucks County Courier Times, by GEORGE MATTAR -21 June 2009: -- Tuesday will mark the 30th anniversary of the nation's first gasoline riots in Levittown... On a hot Saturday afternoon about 5 p.m. June, 23, 1979, Bristol Township police officer Bob Hairhoger, was responding to an accident on New Falls Road near Red Cedar Drive... What would transpire a few moments later would grab international headlines, result in hundreds of arrests and nearly 200 police officers battling with protesters because of the second Arab oil embargo, which dried up tanks throughout the country... The Truckers: Jim Halikman, now 67, a former Bristol Township officer, and Hairhoger's partner at the time, said what originally was planned as a peaceful demonstration turned ugly... The truckers' intentions were not malicious, said Bob Evans, 60, owner of Evans' Trucking along Route 13 in Tullytown... Evans said none of his truckers were involved in the melee, nor got involved in any protests... He did say most of the truckers involved were independents hauling products out of the former U.S. Steel mill in Falls... Sam Farruggio, also 60, owner of Farruggio's Expressway, Bristol Borough, said he cannot remember if any of the independent drivers working for him were involved... Steven Lankin, 68, has owned Five Points Getty since 1964, and remembers those three chaotic days vividly... Given the price of gas and that it continues to rise, Lankin fears another gas riot could take place... "Only this time, they won't be throwing rocks and beer bottles. They will be bringing guns and this time people are gonna get shot. I fear guns this time because it's the easy way out. Nobody fights with their hands anymore," he said... (Chronicle photo by John Storey, from 2.bp.blogspot.com: Riot protesters burned police cars) Labels: riots
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