Garden House riot

The Garden House riot was a civil disturbance at the Garden House Hotel in Cambridge on Friday 13 February 1970. It was the only serious disturbance in Cambridge in the period around the widespread 1968 student protests. The event has been described as a marking a watershed in student protest in the UK.

The Greek Tourist Board organised a "Greek Week" in Cambridge in 1970, with support from the Greek government and local travel agents, including events at the Royal Cambridge Hotel and Garden House Hotel. Protesters against the "Colonels' regime" gathered outside the hotels for several days, culminating with a crowd of several hundred protesters – mostly Cambridge University students organised by socialist groups – demonstrating against a Greek dinner for 120 guests being held at River Suite at the Garden House Hotel from 7:30 pm on 13 February.

The protesters picketed the venue – in a narrow cul-de-sac beside the River Cam – to discourage diners from entering. The noisy crowd attempted to disrupt speeches inside, with a loudspeaker in a Fellow's room in neighbouring Peterhouse playing music by dissident Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis. Protesters invaded the hotel's garden, still icy from recent snow, banging on the windows of the venue and climbing onto the hotel roof. An attempt to break up the crowd using a fire hose played from a first floor window at the hotel failed, and violence broke out: the hotel was invaded and damaged (estimated at £2,000), one policeman was seriously injured, others received minor injuries, and a University pro-proctor, Dr Charles Goodhart, was struck by a brick and taken to hospital. Around 80 policemen accompanied by police dogs restored order by about 11 pm.

Six students were arrested on 13 February, and the university proctors provided the police with the names of approximately 60 people they had spotted in the crowd. Fifteen students were tried on a variety of charges at Hertfordshire Assizes in June and July 1970, including riotous assembly, unlawful assembly, assaulting a police constable, and possessing offensive weapons. Charges against another four people – including economist Bob Rowthorn, the only senior member of the university to be charged – had been dismissed at a committal hearing in May.

...
Wikipedia