People attacked the New York City Police Department (NYPD), destroyed property, and looted stores.

In the early 1900s, the Harlem neighborhood in Manhattan benefited from the construction of new subway routes, and in turn, saw an increase in real estate investment.

The Afro-American Realty Company allowed Black residents to invest in real estate and avoid eviction by white property owners.

The murder rate in the area shot up dramatically, and street crime became a fixture of Harlem nightlife.

[3][page needed] Patrick Lynch was a building superintendent in Yorkville, a predominantly working-class white area on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

On July 16, 1964, around 9:15 a.m., he sprayed water from a hose on Black students, who said Lynch shouted “Dirty niggers, I'll wash you clean.

The students, attending summer school across the street, responded by throwing bottles and garbage can lids at Lynch.

"[6] As Powell exited the building, off-duty NYPD police Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan had also been drawn to the disturbance and ran to the scene from a nearby shop.

Other witnesses with a clear view of the shooting said Powell threw up his right arm in a defensive gesture, and that he was not holding a knife.

Powell, Cliff Harris and Carl Dudley, left the Bronx that morning and headed to Manhattan.

The students, who were mostly Black, began throwing bottles, cans, and chunks of cement at the police.

They demanded a civilian review board to discipline the police, but they were met by 50 officers holding nightsticks.

About 200 picketers, mainly whites and Puerto Ricans, protested at the school around noon that day.

Police officers were also present at a rally protesting the rising crime rate in Harlem.

Later, at a largely peaceful CORE rally, Reverend Nelson C. Dukes called for protestors to march on the 28th police precinct.

Among those who marched on the precinct were Black Nationalist Edward Mills Davis and James Lawson.

Arriving at the precinct, organizers briefly spoke with police Inspector Pendergast, but the crowd had quickly turned violent.

Michael Doris became the first police officer injured in the riots when he was hit in the face with a bottle.

"[15] More officers from the Tactical Patrol Force (TPF) arrived and attempted to break the crowd up.

Around 10:30 p.m., a Molotov cocktail was thrown on a police car near the Theresa hotel, injuring an officer.

Other people were swept up in the chaos as they exited the subway and local businesses, and some did not realize they were being pursued by police.

The chaos ended at 8 a.m. on Lenox Street, where what was left of the rioters had regrouped before being dispersed by a large number of police officers.

This account was hotly contested by hospital officials, who counted 7 gunshot wounds and 110 persons with serious injuries.

The violence ended around 1.30 a.m. and left 27 policemen and 93 civilians injured, 108 arrested and 45 stores looted.

Paul R. Screvane said that a New York County grand jury would look into the murder of James Powell and at the same time, announced Mayor Wagner's hasty return to the city.

The Brooklyn CORE branch had prepared an all-day march for Monday in support of the rioters and activists in Harlem.

After blocking four main intersections in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, the CORE members and other protestors met at Nostrand Ave. and Fulton St., where the crowd swelled to about 1000 people.

[7][page needed][8][page needed] Police officials launched an investigation targeting protest organizers and other agitators, specifically Black Nationalists and the Harlem Progressive Labor Club, the Harlem branch of the Progressive Labor Party.

They started to rock the vehicle while the people around the truck grew agitated, and a riot soon began again.

[26] Young people were employed running a summer camp, planting trees, repairing damaged buildings, and printing a newspaper.