The confrontations between college students ( and other activists ) and law enforcement officials became one of the hallmarks of the era . Many younger people began to show deep distrust of police , and terms such as " fuzz " and " pig " as derogatory epithets for police reappeared , and became key words within the counterculture lexicon . The distrust of police was based not only on fear of police brutality during political protests , but also on generalized police corruption - especially police manufacture of false evidence , and outright entrapment , in drug cases . In the US , the social tension between elements of the counterculture and law enforcement reached the breaking point in many notable cases , including : the Columbia University protests of 1968 in New York City , the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests in Chicago , the arrest and imprisonment of John Sinclair in Ann Arbor , Michigan , and the Kent State shootings at Kent State University in Kent , Ohio , where National Guardsman acted as surrogates for police . Police malfeasance was also an ongoing issue in the UK during the era
Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
Counterculture of the 1960s