University of New Mexico bayoneting incident

A bayoneting incident between students protesting on the campus of the University of New Mexico (UNM) and the New Mexico Army National Guard took place on May 8, 1970, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Students protested on campus for several days leading up to the incident as a response to the Kent State shooting that had happened four days prior. The protest was also part of a larger series of anti-war demonstrations that occurred on college campuses across the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s to voice opposition to US involvement in the Vietnam War. In the days leading up to the incident, students occupied the Student Union and Air Force ROTC buildings on campus, which led to UNM President Ferrel Heady and the Board of Regents' decision to court order the temporary closure of the Student Union Building. Heady encouraged students to leave, and many did before police arrested the remaining 131 protesters. As the building was being cleared out, the National Guard arrived and bayoneted a crowd that had gathered around the Student Union Building. During the incident, 10 or 11 people including students, teachers, and media members received bayonet wounds, though no deaths occurred.

Background

Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many college students across the United States participated in anti-war demonstrations and protests. Although protesters urged the US to withdraw troops and end the war, the anti-Vietnam War movement was a more broad movement for greater peace and less war. When Richard Nixon became president, anti-war activists expanded their efforts.