A history of protests in New York City – in pictures

A new exhibition at the Bronx Documentary Center features the work of photojournalists who captured conflict on the streets of New York between 1980 and 2000. Whose Streets? Our Streets! covers moments of violent confrontation like the Tompkins Square Riot, the creativity of the Aids protesters of the 1990s and non-violent civil disobedience triggered by racial tensions, and runs until 5 March

Sarah Gilbert

Main image: An image from Whose Streets? Our Streets? on display at the Bronx Documentary Center. Photograph: James Hamilton

  • Pro-choice demonstrators in downtown Manhattan protest against the 1989 supreme court Webster decision that limited Roe V Wade, a turning point in the pro-choice movement. Twenty-four people were arrested, including activist Mary Lou Greenberg, as they stormed the Brooklyn bridge
    pro-choice 1989

  • Students sit on a parked car outside an occupied building on the City College campus during the CUNY student strike against proposed tuition hikes and budget cuts in 1991
    cuny

  • A demonstration at the Jay Street-Borough Hall subway station following the Howard Beach verdict in December 1987, in which three white defendants were found guilty of manslaughter over the death of an African American man, Michael Griffith. He was beaten and chased by a white mob on to a highway where he was struck by a car
    jay street

  • The Tompkins Square Park riot in New York City in 1988, which occurred after protesters at a rally against a 1am curfew, clashed with police
    tompkins square

  • Squatters attempt to defend their building by blocking the street with overturned cars and trash before an expected attack by the police on East 13th Street in 1995
    squatters

  • A pro-choice rally in support of abortion rights in 1992
    pro-choice

  • A group called ‘Women in Mourning and Outrage’ hold up photographs of Amadou Diallo during a rally in 2000. It was held after the acquittal of four NYC police officers involved in the shooting of Diallo, who was unarmed
    women in mourning

  • A group of radical feminist artists known as The Guerrilla Girls paste protest pieces on the walls of the city in 1985
    guerilla girls

  • Garment union members rally in Chinatown in 1991 in support of Kaity Tong, the first Chinese American television news anchor, who had worked at WABC-TV for 10 years, when she was fired
    kaity tong

  • Act Up staged a ‘Day of Desperation’ protest in 1991, protesting at George HW Bush spending billions on the Gulf war while saying there was no cash for Aids programmes. This banner was raised at Grand Central Station
    act up
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