October Crisis, 1970: Crackdown ignited by authorities’ fear of young people

In the years leading up to the October Crisis in Quebec in 1970, young people in Western countries were engaged in a series of ruthless battles. Civil unrest had broken out in France in May 1968, and in the United States, demonstrations and riots against segregation and discrimination, as well as the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War had gained ground. All of it occurred against a backdrop of political assassinations, major social upheavals and a rush to independence of former colonies.