Page "Stonewall riots" Paragraph 28
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The police tried to restrain some of the crowd, and knocked a few people down, which incited bystanders even more.
Some of those handcuffed in the wagon escaped when police left them unattended ( deliberately, according to some witnesses ).
As the crowd tried to overturn the police wagon, two police cars and the wagon — with a few slashed tires — left immediately, with Inspector Pine urging them to return as soon as possible.
Someone in the crowd declared that the bar had been raided because " they didn't pay off the cops ", to which someone else yelled " Let's pay them off!
" Beer cans were thrown and the police lashed out, dispersing some of the crowd, who found a construction site nearby with stacks of bricks.
The police, outnumbered by between 500 and 600 people, grabbed several people, including folk singer Dave Van Ronk — who had been attracted to the revolt from a bar two doors away from the Stonewall.
Though Van Ronk was not gay, he had experienced police violence when he participated in antiwar demonstrations: " As far as I was concerned, anybody who'd stand against the cops was all right with me, and that's why I stayed in .... Every time you turned around the cops were pulling some outrage or another.
" Ten police officers — including two policewomen — barricaded themselves, Van Ronk, Howard Smith ( a writer for The Village Voice ), and several handcuffed detainees inside the Stonewall Inn for their own safety.
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