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The convention riots were later determined to be a 'Police Riot'. They never matched in ferocity or destruction the MLK riots in April. The object of abuse was the unfortunate fools (me included) that came to see the show. During the Martin Luther King riots the city was in flames and APCs roamed State St. Unlike the King riots the convention was scheduled and grew to disfunction.
Principle players included Mayor Richard J Dailey, the democratic boss that had held up the '60 elections to vote all the cemetaries that elected JFK. Sheriff Joe Woods (brother of Mary Joe famous for the missing 18 minutes) of Cook County put on an extra 2500 deputies for the event. Under their guidance the local 'underground' papers were informed they had fires and their offices were destroyed, all permits were witheld and the 'Shoot to Kill, Shoot to Maim' orders were still in force. An estimated 350k demonstraters showed up for peace and love and didn't know Woodstock was a year and 700 miles away.
In '68 the Demcratic nominee was not determined by primary votes(which McCarthy with RFK referrals had) but by the bosses which LBJ and Daily were and held for Humphrey. Nixon was claiming he had a secret plan to end the war (later found to involve frustrating all LBJ's peace proposals).
Miles from the convention site in Lincoln Park the police took the initiative to drive the the demonstrators from the park (where they had no permit) and drove them into the streets where they were 'vagrants'. Police ran rampant assaulting all and sundry (attacking newsman here set the media attitude more than anything Cronkite had to say) Mayhem ensued and continued through the week culminating in Grants Park Wednesday night. Listening to Al Kooper and Allen Ginzberg may not be correct on this board but there was never any violence until the police and deputies intitiated it. With trunceons and tear gas they drove the crowd against the Hilton on Michigan Ave for effect. What were they thinking?
I was there. At the time I wasn't anti-war. I was 15 (later fired for being under age in an industrial enivornment) working in a warehouse in the western suburbs and wanted to see what all the hubub was about. The hippy/yippies had been camped in laundramats for miles out and drew our attention. We met in the parking lot each morning to car pool in that week.
It was the the event that turned me against the war. It wasn't the dirty hippies that changed me it was the rampaging police and Mayor Dailey. My brother had just returned, my cousin was there, I had classmates, I had friends, I had coworkers, I had instructors, all participating in Vietnam. My enlistment came years later. As a photo-mate I got to document all the stupid things sailors do when the bars close, but never did I fail to value and admire the soldier, sailor, airmen or Marine that wears the uniform and does his job.
We can only hope the electorate makes the best use of us.

Oddly enough by Friday of convention week the straggling protestors and police were sharing joints on the grassy sward of Lincoln Park.

Odder still was to learn years later that Dailey months before the convention had urged LBJ to quit the war. Go figure