The 1971 May Day protests were a series of large-scale civil disobedience actions in Washington, D.C., in protest against the Vietnam War. These began on Monday morning, May 3rd, and ended on May 5th. More than 12,000 people were arrested, the largest mass arrest in U.S. history. Members of the Nixon administration would come to view the events as damaging, because the government's response was perceived as violating citizens' civil rights.