In 1970, Kent State University students staged a peaceful protest again US invasion of Cambodia during the war, and thirteen were shot by the police to "maintain order." Four were killed, two of whom were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, and two of whom were actually protesting.
After the shooting, President Nixon sponsored a commission to study campus unrest.
"Students who bomb and burn are criminals. Police and National Guardsmen who needlessly shoot or assault students are criminals. All who applaud these criminal acts share in the evil"
The administration blamed the students for the massacre and claimed that they had been disrupting the peace and had acted violently, although that was not the case.
This incident has led today to a greater skepticism of the police and condemnation of the exploitation of police powers.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/05/04/why_kent_state_is_important_today/
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