Shinjuku riot

The Shinjuku riot (Japanese: 新宿騒乱, Hepburn: Shinjuku sōran) was a violent clash between police and anti-Vietnam War protesters who occupied Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Japan, on 21 October 1968. The incident took place in the context of mass demonstrations in observation of "International Anti-War Day". In total more than 800,000 Japanese left-wing activists, including the Beheiren anti-war coalition, labor unionists, and radical student groups also participating in the 1968–1969 Japanese university protests, carried out a variety of demonstrations and protest activities across Japan. By occupying Shinjuku Station and disrupting the normal transit of trains, a large group of protesters in Tokyo hoped to express their disapproval of the Japanese government's support for the United States-led war in Vietnam. The riot was mostly broken up by the morning of 22 October due to the invocation of the Anti-Riot Law by police, an act that was largely condoned by the press and led to greater police confidence.