POP/ROCK - Sept. 9, 1987

It could be that the East Coast variant of the Grateful Dead loyalists known as the Deadheads is becoming more aggressive than its West Coast relative. Thirty Providence, R.I., police were assaulted by more than 3,500 enraged Eastern Deadheads who couldn’t get into the Providence Civic Center Monday night to see their heroes. Before the night was over, according to police, two policemen had facial cuts from thrown bottles, more than 60 people were arrested, two Civic Center doors were ripped from their hinges, a center employee suffered a broken arm while trying to hold a door shut, and a fan broke his leg when he fell or was pushed from the center’s parapet to the sidewalk.