1967-8 Stanmer Unrest
| 1967-8 Stanmer Unrest | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 A victim of the Albertweg shooting | |||
| Date | November 1967-May 1968 | ||
| Location | |||
| Caused by | Distrust for the monarchy, anger at government inaction, perceived ignorance of local affairs | ||
| Goals | Reform of democratic system, limitation of monarchy's powers | ||
| Methods | Strikes, protests, direct action | ||
| Number | |||
| |||
| Casualties | |||
| |||
The Stanmer Unrest was a series of protests, strikes and other civil unrest primarily in the city of Lyksdal and its environs, then in North Vyvland, from winter 1967 into May 1968. The protests focused around the monarchy in the country at the time, which still retained wide-ranging powers, anger at the Christian Democratic administration in power at the time, and aperceived ignorance of Stanmer and Lyksdal - which was then Vyvland's largest city - by central government in Vlud.
The police and armed forces, who were deployed after the unrest picked up, were widely criticised for their heavy-handed tactics. The police and military were in many cases violent and caused the deaths of at least 40 civilians, three of whom were not involved in the protests; thirty-five of these deaths occurred in the Albertweg shooting in May 1968, when the army shot at a crowd of protestors after unrest in central Lyksdal. Hundreds more were injured from the incident.
The riots led to a reform of the system of government through amendments to the High Law, introducing greater regional autonomy through the system of provincial diets, and limiting the powers of the monarchy to a mostly ceremonial role. Additionally, the riots have been linked to similar protests in Ainin (Aininian uprising of 1968), Geadland (Year 100 Protests) and Iglesiantis (May 1968 events in Iglesiantis) around that time.
Background
The ongoing deindustrialisation of the city of Lyksdal and its environs was causing great economic upheaval, with unemployment rates consistently above 15% from 1955, and large social problems associated with the deprivation this caused, enhanced by the inability of local and provincial governments to pay for public services due to low tax revenues. These problems for the most part were ignored by the government at the time, which viewed Stanmer as "a lost cause for conservatives like us", in the words of then-Prime Minister Rasmys Blymborg. The protests started as a local affair, with trade unions such as the Workers' Union and Public Sector Solidarity Front and local people staging demonstrations from November 1967 onwards in Lyksdal, Meeri, Bajreel, Vaamli and Wohldon. Their aims were to achieve greater representation for the region and greater awareness of local problems and plight to central government in Vlud, with which Lyksdal has long held a rivalry, in addition to greater decision-making power for local bodies.
The protests
The initial demonstrations
The first demonstration was formed under the banner of Beter Lyksdal (Better Lyksdal). It was a coalition of local workers, the unemployed, and various trade unions and leftwing political movements, and held its first march on the 27th November, with a route around the city centre of Lyksdal, ending at the City Council offices. The protests received national media attention, although were overwhelmingly peaceful in nature. However, the government at the time took no action to address the problems highlighted by the protestors, and following protests occurred throughout the winter.
Similarly to other movements internationally, the tensions started to heighten in the spring of 1968. An influx of university students and various anarchists and republican movements began to create a more restless atmosphere, and the focus shifted from a call for local recognition to a call for wider national political reform. The 6 April march coincided with a long weekend, thus attracting a large number of students and activists from around Vyvland and abroad. It was also the first to turn violent in any significant quantity, with mounted police being called in to keep the peace. Prime Minister Rasmys Blymborg denounced the protestors as "scum who don't know what's good for them" the following day - a phrase which began to be used as an attack on the government by protestors. Due to the hostile reaction from the authorities, another protest was planned for the following day, which was followed up by a week of sit-ins in government buildings and protests on the streets.
Strikes and further protests
In late April, protest numbers were dwindling, while the purposes of protests were being diluted. The Public Sector Solidarity Front decided to explore the idea of mass public sector general strike to rejuvenate the original message of the protests. The first day of industrial action was confined to Stanmer province, but the success of this strike prompted a nationwide walkout of almost all public sector workers, grinding a large amount of government activity to a halt. Organisers of the strike, with funds from the South Vyvlander government, paid for travel from across North Vyvland to Lyksdal to join protests, which had increased to levels of roughly 600,000 per day on average.
On the 2nd May, the government declared a 'state of national attack', authorising the use of the army and "all force necessary" to remove the protestors and send strikers back to work. A series of clashes between police and protestors injured hundreds over the next month, while crime in areas of Lyksdal skyrocketed under a state of de facto lawlessness. Various groups occupied different areas of the city.
May saw continued unrest, with strikes spreading to industry and transport workers. At this point, the armed forces were summoned to Lyksdal to push back the protestors and strikers and dissipate the crowds. The troops deployed, fearing large-scale resistance, were armed with automatic weapons, although these were not loaded initially. However, despite the presence of the soldiers, the protests continued to grow in size.
The 12th May was a major turning point in the demonstrations, with Army commander Jeu Piter Jeger ordering troops to advance into inner-city Lyksdal from various impromptu camps on the city's outskirts. Protestors began to turn violent in their opposition to the armed intervention, and committed large amounts of vandalism and looting, especially to steal weapons with which to combat the army. Two days later, the army began its first major clash with protestors, at Ulrigsplaac (now renamed 14-Maj-Plaac) alongside the River Stanmer in the northeast of the city. Police and soldiers used lethal force to push back the demonstrators, with at least 6 deaths, 4 of which were due to brain haemorrhages.
Although widely criticised for brutality, the troops continued the so-called Siege on Lyksdal. Their next meeting with protestors was the following day, at Albertweg, a major thoroughfare in the city centre. Here, a crowd of roughly 200 protestors, who eyewitnesses described as mostly peaceful, were shot down by a small band of troops acting outside the authority of their commanders. However, it soon emerged that their actions had been sanctioned by a secret group comprising of the King, Prime Minister and a select group of ministers and intelligence chiefs.
The incident, and the revelations surrounding it, prompted an immediate resignation of the majority of the cabinet at the time. A vote of no confidence was passed against Blymborg, which prompted snap elections on the 22nd, returning a landslide majority for the opposition Social Liberal Party headed by Gunfre Smef-Hoyg, who had been engaging in negotiations with the protestors. On the 29th May, after much of the violence had died down, representatives from the protestor factions and government signed an official truce, replacing the ceasefire called immediately before the election.
Aftermath and legacy
The riots and protests had significant, lasting and noticeable effects on Vyvland. The monarchy had its powers severely restricted to that of a ceremonial monarchy, while significant restructuring was implemented in the armed forces and police. The Provincial Diet system was implemented, which gave considerable lawmaking power to each of the country's provinces, while independent city status was given to Lyksdal, giving it greater autonomy and self-government (the status had already been conferred upon Vlud and Mafiy). Multiple politicians and future influential figures, including former Prime Minister Minke Selengborg, participated actively in the unrest.
The protests also inspired, and were inspired by, similar demonstrations in Geadland and Iglesiantis. In Iglesiantis, protests spawned the highly active terrorist organisation Revolution 68, which was responsible in itself for the 1981 Lorence attacks. From 1969 to 1970, protests in Nevanmaa claimed inspiration from the happenings in Lyksdal.