Editing MOVE Organization (section)

== Powelton Village Confrontation ==

By the mid-1970s, MOVE's Powelton Village headquarters had become a source of persistent conflict with neighbors and authorities. The city sought to remove MOVE from the property, citing health and building code violations. MOVE fortified the house and refused to leave. A prolonged standoff ensued, with police surrounding the property while negotiations failed to produce resolution. On August 8, 1978, police attempted to forcibly evict MOVE members. In the confrontation, Officer James Ramp was killed by gunfire; MOVE members claimed police fired the shots, while authorities blamed MOVE. Nine MOVE members were convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to thirty to one hundred years in prison—sentences that critics considered excessive and politically motivated.<ref name="boyette"/>

The 1978 confrontation established patterns that would recur in 1985: MOVE's fortification of property, the city's determination to remove them, failed negotiations, and ultimate resort to force. The imprisonment of the "MOVE 9" became a continuing grievance for remaining members and supporters, who maintained that the convictions were unjust and that police, not MOVE, had killed Officer Ramp. The 1978 conflict did not end MOVE; surviving members relocated and continued their activities, setting the stage for the more catastrophic confrontation that would follow.<ref name="anderson"/>