May 8 Historical Events

The following events took place on May 8. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 50 events. Showing 31 - 50.

• 1945
  The Halifax Riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax.
• 1946
  Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which stood in front of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn.
• 1962
  The Rabindra Bharati University, a prominent University in India, was founded.
• 1963
  South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
• 1966
  A plane crash at Connellsville, Pennsylvania kills Pennsylvania Attorney General, Walter E. Alessandroni, his wife, and other state officials.
• 1967
  The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
• 1970
  The Hard Hat Riot occurs in the Wall Street area of New York City as blue-collar construction workers clash with demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War.
• 1972
  Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
• 1972
  Four Black September terrorists hijack Sabena Flight 571. Israeli Sayeret Matkal commandos recapture the plane the following day.
• 1973
  A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.

• 1976
  The rollercoaster Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
• 1978
  The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
• 1980
  The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.
• 1984
  The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
• 1984
  Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three and wounding 13. René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.
• 1984
  The Thames Barrier is officially opened.
• 1987
  The Loughgall ambush: The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
• 1988
  A fire at Illinois Bell’s Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the “worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history”.
• 1997
  A China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people.
• 1999
  United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade