Page "Stonewall riots" Paragraph 26

When the first patrol wagon arrived, Inspector Pine recalled that the crowd — most of whom were homosexual — had grown to at least ten times the number of people who were arrested, and they all became very quiet.

Confusion over radio communication delayed the arrival of a second wagon.

The police began escorting Mafia members into the first wagon, to the cheers of the bystanders.

Next, regular employees were loaded into the wagon.

A bystander shouted, " Gay power!

", someone began singing " We Shall Overcome ", and the crowd reacted with amusement and general good humor mixed with " growing and intensive hostility ".

An officer shoved a transvestite, who responded by hitting him on the head with her purse as the crowd began to boo.

Author Edmund White, who had been passing by, recalled, " Everyone's restless, angry, and high-spirited.

No one has a slogan, no one even has an attitude, but something's brewing.

" Pennies, then beer bottles, were thrown at the wagon as a rumor spread through the crowd that patrons still inside the bar were being beaten.