Beginning May 12, 1968, the newly formed Poor People's Campaign, started by the recently (April 4) assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., organized a shantytown known as "Resurrection City", composed of around 3,000 black, native, and Latino militants, along with a significant contingent of hippies and diggers, encamped on the National Mall in Washington, DC. This culminated in the June 19 "Solidarity Day" protest which drew 55,000 protesters, after which the tent settlements' population dwindled to around 300. It was finally razed, after almost 6 weeks, on June 24, 1968, by 1,000 riot police using tear gas.