"St. John's police assault bar patrons"

"St. John's police assault bar patrons"

Article in The Body Politic describing a violent police raid on the night of March 14, 1980 at Friends Bar in St. John's. It reports that police entered at 2:45 am with the intention to shut down the bar at any cost. Patrons were ordered to leave by police, however they were not moving as fast as the police would have liked. As a result, police became rough. Police assaulted 5 individuals along with the club's doorman, blood covered the washrooms as reported by a bartender.

A few weeks later, The Body Politic published a letter from the owner of the bar, William Bartlett, disputing that the raid was violent or homophobic.

This article was posted in the Body Politic newsletter. The Body Politic was a queer, activist-based Canadian monthly newsletter that was published from 1971 to 1987. It is one of the most significant queer publications in Canadian history, and played a significant role in amplifying the Gay Liberation Movement and provided a crucial space for queer voices to be heard.

Pink Triangle Press

Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Internet Archive

June, July 1980

Pink Triangle Press

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English

Newspaper Article