Your city's worst riot

[Nutterbug]

Vancouver:

Stanley Cup Riot - June 13, 1994, I guess

After the disappointment and heartbreak of the Vancouver Canucks' loss of the final championship game 7 to the New York Rangers, thousands of disappointed, many drunk, fans take to the streets and wreak havok. Windows are smashed and shops are looted all along Robson Street. One person shot in back of head with police plastic bullet.

[fflint]

For San Francisco, it was August 15, 1945: 11 dead, more than 1,000 injured, looting, vandalism, 30 streetcars disabled.

Cause? The Japanese surrendered WWII and drunken sailors and soldiers went bonkers in the streets until the military and police broke up the mobs.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/15/BAGDHE7TE81.DTL

[DJM19]

In Los Angeles we have had two major riots people ussually bring up on this topic.

Id say the Watts Riots were probably worse than the Los Angeles 1992 riots. 50+ people died in the Los Angeles riot. But 34 were killed in the Watts riot, plus 1,100 injured, plus 4,000 arrested, plus 600 buildings damaged. And the Watts riots had a lasting racial impact that likely contributed to the Los Angeles Riots.

[mhays]

I vagely recall something about 50,000 anti-globalism protesters in Downtown Seattle during the WTO meeting in 1999. As with any riot, most were peaceful, and a few people caused 99% of the trouble.

Luckily, my firm's construction project near the convention center, a renovation of the historic Seaboard Building for housing and offices, was boarded up in ancitipation of the riots.

I agree with much of what our protesters were saying. Unfortunately the positive messages got drowned out by destruction and looting, so it became an us vs. them kind of thing, with the protesters being the bad guys. Our police were too lighthanded the first day and too heavy-handed the second day, making things worse.

The funny thing is that Seattle got way more publicity and name recognition out of the riots than we ever would have had the WTO meetings been successful. For many people on other continents, this was the first time they heard anything other than quickly-forgettable mentions of Seattle.

[Jularc]

This is one of NYC worst riots....


New York Draft Riots


The New York Draft Riots (July 13 to July 16, 1863; known at the time as Draft Week[1]) were a series of violent disturbances in New York City that were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. Lincoln sent several regiments of militia and volunteer troops to control the city. The rioters numbered in the thousands, and were predominantly ("uniformly") Irish.[2] Smaller scale riots erupted in other cities about the same time.[3]

Initially intended to express anger at the draft, the protests degraded into civil disorder against the Republicans and especially African Americans. The conditions in the city were such that Major General John E. Wool stated on the 16th, "Martial law ought to be proclaimed, but I have not a sufficient force to enforce it." Using artillery and fixed bayonets the military suppressed the mob, but not before numerous buildings were ransacked or destroyed, including many homes, the Tribune office, an orphanage for blacks, and even P.T. Barnum's museum of oddities.


The riots


The second drawing of numbers was held on Monday July 13, 1863, but a furious mob soon attacked the assistant provost marshal's office. The rioters initially targeted draft offices and police stations but soon began to attack African Americans. The blacks became a scapegoat and the target of the rioters' anger; those who fell into the mob's hands were beaten, tortured, and/or killed. Other targets included the office of the leading Republican newspaper, the New York Tribune.

The New York police forces proved unable to quell the riots. The police were badly outnumbered and had to focus on minimizing losses and rescuing those whom they could. Control of the city was not re-established until the hasty arrival of federal troops, including the 152nd New York Volunteers, the 26th Michigan Volunteers, the 27th Indiana Volunteers and 7th Regiment New York State Militia from Frederick, Maryland after a forced march. In addition the governor sent in 74th and 65th regiments of the New York state militia, which had not been in federal service.

By July 15th, the mob still controlled scattered portions of the city, but by the morning of the 16th, there were several thousand Federal troops in the city and the riot largely subsided.[3]


Aftermath


The exact death toll is unknown, but according to Cook (1974), at least 100 civilians were killed and at least 300 more injured; property damage was about US$1.5 million.

On August 19, the draft was resumed. It was completed within 10 days without further incident, although far fewer men were actually drafted than had been feared: of the 750,000 selected for conscription nationwide only 6% actually went into service.[4]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Draft_Riot

[Marcu]

The Haymarket in Chicago. Here's more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Riot

[Attrill]

The worst in Chciago was probably the race riot of 1919 - 38 dead, over 500 injured, and about 1000 left homeless. White gangs on the South Side started the riots which covered almost all of the South Side - after a black kid accidentally went into a white section of a beach and was killed for it.

Chicago was basically one long riot in 1968 - the worst being after the death of Dr. King - 11 dead, over 500 injured, over 200 buildings burned to the ground or had to be torn down. Almost 20,000 police and national guard were brought in. There was also the Democratic convention riot and an April anti-war riot. Criticism of Daley's handling of the first two riots was a part of what made him so out of control in dealing with the Convention riot.

There have also been the Beer riot of 1855, Division St. Riot of 1966, Haymarket Riot in 1886....There were also some smaller riots after the Bulls NBA Championships.

[Buckeye Native 001]

The 2001 Cincinnati Riot

[The-New-Tony-Detroit]

Detroit - July 23-27, 1967
43 Dead, started on the corner of 12th Street and Clairmount on the city's near westside Virginia Park district...

http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1967/1101670804_400.jpg

http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/R_Casestudy/ID77239_4_riots.gif

http://www.aaregistry.com/eimage/DetroitRiot1967NationalGuardWestSide.gif


Where it all started... today:

http://www.detroit1701.org/Graphics/Rosapark.jpg

The scars of the 1967 riots carry into this day.

A map of the three largest riots in the city's history:

http://www.detroit1701.org/Graphics/Riots.jpg

[MayDay]

Cleveland's worst riot was the Hough Riots of 1966.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hough_Riots

[Citrus-Fruit]

Just last year Birmingham had a pretty serious riot ...

A man has died after violence in the Lozells area of Birmingham on Saturday night. Four people were stabbed and two people shot in the disturbances.
A black man in his 20s died from stab wounds and a police officer was shot with a ball bearing gun. The other injuries are not said to be serious.

A riot broke out after a public meeting in the area over an alleged sexual attack on a 14-year-old girl.


An 18-year-old man has died in hospital after he was shot close to the scene of weekend rioting in Birmingham.
Two men have been arrested over the incident on Sunday in the Newtown area but police do not yet know if it is linked to the weekend violence.

Saturday's rioting involved youths from the black and Asian communities and was said to have been sparked by a claim that a girl of 14 had been raped.

Police say "rumour, myth and speculation" had fuelled the violence.


The most notorious one however is the Handsworth riots.

The two Handsworth riots occurred in the Handsworth suburb of Birmingham, England, during the summers of 1981 and 1985. The riots were allegedly caused by heavy-handed policing and drug-related problems in this inner city suburb, fueled by a nationwide wave of uprisings in the wake of the April 1981 Brixton riot. Other sources claimed that the local African-Caribbean community felt aggrieved at the increase in Asian owned businesses that were prospering in the area. Violent racism existed in the city from both cultures. It has been argued that the riots really arose from poor social conditions, racial discrimination, poverty, unemployment, and dilapidated housing. Since then much has been done to improve the local amenities and housing conditions.

The first riot in Handsworth took place on July 10, 1981. The second larger riot took place between the 9th and the 11th of September 1985. The riots were reportedly sparked by the arrest of a man near the Acapulco Cafe, Lozells and a police raid on the Villa Cross public house in the same area. Hundreds of people attacked police and property, looting and smashing, even setting off fire bombs. In its aftermath, 2 people were left dead, 2 unaccounted for, 35 injured, over 1500 police officers drafted into the area, around 45 shops looted and burnt, and a trail of damage running into hundreds of thousands of pounds [1]. The riots were to spark a series of similar riots across the country, notably the Broadwater Farm riot in London. The second Handsworth riot was witnessed by Bronx graffiti artists Brim and Goldie, who documented the devastation in the Channel 4 documentary Bombing.

[glowrock]

In Los Angeles we have had two major riots people ussually bring up on this topic.

Id say the Watts Riots were probably worse than the Los Angeles 1992 riots. 50+ people died in the Los Angeles riot. But 34 were killed in the Watts riot, plus 1,100 injured, plus 4,000 arrested, plus 600 buildings damaged. And the Watts riots had a lasting racial impact that likely contributed to the Los Angeles Riots.

In terms of death, injury, and damage, the 1992 riots were definitely more severe. In terms of overall race relations, the Watts riots were certainly bigger.

Remember, in the 1992 riots, there was actually very LITTLE black vs. white rioting. MOST of the altercations were between hispanics and koreans, hispanics and blacks, and black and koreans.

The most unsettling thing about the 1992 riots for me was that I actually was in attendance at the Rodney King beating trial for about a week, since I was living about 3 miles from the courthouse and decided that the trial was going to be more educational than a few days at community college! :D

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Teshadoh]

Atlanta just memorialized the 100 anniversary of the city's worst riot, in 1906. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3033

Tulsa, OK of course wins the prize for the worst race riot, or any riot in the US.

[brickell]

May 17, 1980
A three-day race riot breaks out after an all-white jury acquits four white Miami police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance salesman. The cops had beaten him with their flashlights and billyclubs, and he died in the hospital. 18 fatalities and more than $100 million in property damage are the final result.

[bobdreamz]

^ Brickell I remember the McDuffie riot very well. That was probably the lowest point in race relations in Miami's history. I thought the city would never recover from that.

http://www.miami.com/images/miami/miamiherald/12634/159618220314.jpg

May 1980

[someone123]

VE Day Riot in Halifax.. it wasn't really that violent but because the city's restaurants and liquor stores were closed, the 25,000 or so servicemen in the city decided to start looting:
http://www.okmilmuseum.ca/images/VE%20day%20riots.jpg
http://www.cbc.ca/news/photogalleries/halifaxriot/images/03.jpg
http://www.cbc.ca/news/photogalleries/halifaxriot/images/05.jpg

[pdxstreetcar]

Most cities across the US had rioting after MLK's assassination even one's that one might not expect like Portland. This was our worst riot.

[rockyi]

Our worst riot was the Market Square riot of March 27th 1912.
It's been a while since we had a good riot in Rocky Town.

http://qconline.com/more/looney/looney4.JPG

[soonermeteor]

Atlanta just memorialized the 100 anniversary of the city's worst riot, in 1906. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3033

Tulsa, OK of course wins the prize for the worst race riot, or any riot in the US.


We read a book about the Tulsa riot in my history class last year. All started because of a misunderstanding in an elevator.:( Of course, that is up to debate... whether the young black man "attacked" the white girl, accidently fell into her, or if the two knew eachother and had a fight.

[FREKI]

May 18th 1993 - the socalled "18th of may Demonstration" that came after the politicians had smugled a simplified Maastricht-treaty in doing an election a year after a Denmark had voted no at another election..

We did get some special treatmen in the new Maastricht-light, but people was still pissed to say the least - and noone understood how it got aproved when the majority was against it...

So people took to the streets and as always a few retarded punks started making trouple - that ended with a riot where a relatively small group of police offeicers got trapped in a street and started firing warning shoots in the air to force back the people.. that didn't help and more and more officers was wounded... it all ended when one or two officers fired directly at the stonetrowing punks

113 shots was fired in all ( 6-8 at the crowd ) - 6 people was hit, but the calibre back then was so smal that all survived despite 2 being hit in the head...

These days the Police carries H&K 9mm with special ammunition, so the punks have a lot more respect now - and riots are VERY rare these days...

[mdiederi]

The Rodney King riots in L.A. spilled over into North Las Vegas. I don't know of any others here.

[Clevelumbus]

Columbus, Ohio

November 24th, 2002 after a football game.

--------------------------
COLUMBUS, OH--Students from Ohio State University gathered together yesterday to perform one of the schools most cherished and time honored traditions. They rampaged through the town, overturned cars, started fires, and assaulted police officers during their annual "back to school" riot. Law enforcement officials reported over 200 arrests, 57 injuries, and one death in what students are calling “the best riot ever.”

“Now that was a riot,” said an exhausted Bill Haber, 19. “Last year’s was pretty tame, under a million bucks in damage. But this year, we really set a new standard for excellence. Its gonna be tough to top this one.”

The riot began with the annual “Trashin’ O’ the Campus” ceremony, in which thousands of inebriated students marauded through the campus, destroying everything in sight. By all accounts it was a roaring success, but it was just a precursor to the festivities that lay ahead. After the campus trashing, the students spread out into the city of Columbus, bringing their youthful exuberance to the city’s shops, citizens, and motor vehicles.

“We had a record number of overturned cars,” said Sgt. Jeff Nicolo of the Columbus PD. “These kids were really energetic this year. They must be totally pumped up for football season. I just hope they don’t win the national title this year. Or lose the national title.”

If there’s one thing Ohio State students have proved in the past, it’s that they don’t need a reason to riot. In the fall of 2000, students rioted when Ohio State lost a close football game to the hated Michigan Wolverines, and last November they rioted when the team won a close game against the Wolverines. In addition, last spring they burned down the Office of Student Affairs when the cafeteria ran out of sporks.

Residents of the city have been preparing for the riots for weeks in advance. The mayhem in Columbus is such a regular occurrence, that most residents don’t seem fazed by it. They just take it all in stride, and let the kids do their thing.

Said James Norkum, 38: “I just put masking tape over my windows. They say that makes them harder to break. And I park my car in the garage cause you never know when they’re gonna come turn it over. I'll say one thing for these kids. They’re exuberant. Violence, destruction, death. It's kind of a riot of passage in this town.”

The Ohio State riots have been getting larger and more sensational each year. This year’s riot even had a corporate sponsor. The official title was “The Ohio State Back To School Riot Brought To You By Coors Lite”.

“The Coors Lite thing was a stroke of genius,” said Meyer. “They not only paid for the baseball bats and kerosene, but they supplied the most important ingredient: beer.”

Some, however, are not thrilled with the size and scope of the Ohio State riots. Former players and alumni have expressed disdain for the overblown, over commercialized riots of the modern era, and long for simpler times, when they were spontaneous acts of hatred and drunken stupidity.

Said former Ohio State star Cris Carter: “When we were in school, riots just broke out spontaneously. You know, we’d lose a big game, or win a big game, and a bunch of kids would go out and destroy everything in sight, and of course, beat the crap out of anyone who got in the way. We didn’t have any sponsorship or celebrity participants. But you know how it is today. Once something becomes trendy, the corporations come calling. Ohio State riots have lost their innocence.”

Link: http://thebrushback.com/Archives/ohiostriot_full.htm
--------------------------

[GeorgeLV]

The Rodney King riots in L.A. spilled over into North Las Vegas. I don't know of any others here.

Heck, I can only think of two other major civil demonstration in Las Vegas. The 1971 welfare rights march on Caesars Palace and the recent protests against the House immigration bill.

[MonkeyRonin]

I'm not sure what Toronto's worst riot, but perhaps the most famous was the Christie Pits riot of 1933 ('nother racial riot).

During a baseball game with many Jewish players, Nazi supporters started with the "heil Hitler" shit, which ended up involving 10,000 people in a big brawl pitting Italians and Jews against Anglos.

The Rodney King riots in L.A. spilled over into North Las Vegas. I don't know of any others here.

There were Rodney King riots in just about every city in North American (even Canada).

[Nutterbug]

During a baseball game with many Jewish players, Nazi supporters started with the "heil Hitler" shit, which ended up involving 10,000 people in a big brawl pitting Italians and Jews against Anglos.
The Italians sided with the Jews? :stunned:

What would Mussolini have thought?

There were Rodney King riots in just about every city in North American (even Canada).
Never heard of any such thing here in the negroidally devoid Vancouver.

[Buckeye Native 001]

We have this thing over Labor Day weekend every year in Orange called the "International Street Fair" which is basically just an excuse to get drunk and wreak havoc. The riots aren't huge by any means, but there's one almost every year, and it almost always breaks out on "Irish Street" where most of the beer is served.

[big T]

People in Tahiti are really peaceful, and it took no less than a decision by the French government to resume nuclear testings in Moruroa in 1996 to start the worst riots to date. Several buildings were burned down over a couple of days, including part of the main airport terminal. The city was almost entirely shut down, and crowd control troops were flown in from mainland France to deal with the situation.
The riots also had an uncomfortable racial component, given that a significant minority of the population comes from mainland France, a lot of them being in the military.

Hard to get a lot of info and especially pictures for this. This article sums it up pretty well if you're interested:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=990CE7D6163CF93BA35753C1A963958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fD%2fDemonstrations%20and%20Riots

[Attrill]

There were Rodney King riots in just about every city in North American (even Canada).

I spent the first day of the Rodney King riots at a protest in Grove Hall area of Roxbury (Boston), held in a vacant lot left over from the '67 riots. Everyone was worried about violence breaking out, but none did. It was pretty tense and there were rumors of people breaking windows and looting, but they all turned out to be false.

I was also spending a lot of time in Chicago at that time and never heard about any significant riots in Chicago either. Protests - yes. Riots - no. There is a huge difference between a protest and a riot.

I do remember hearing about the West Las Vegas riots at the time, but not much else in the US, never mind Canada.

[muppet]

The anti-Catholic Gordon riots during the 17th Century in London killed 3000 people.

[dougtheengineer]

In Kingston, the townies would say that Queen's University Homecoming weekend for the last 3 years has seen a riot. Well, last year a car was flipped and burned, along with police being pelted with bottles....

There were more people this year, but it was calmer.

[JRinSoCal]

LOS ANGELES 1992

http://www.kang.org/images/9Riotbucket.jpg

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/riotfire.jpg

http://www.atwitsend.org/LA%20Riots.jpg

http://bztv.typepad.com/instanthistory/images/august_30_1965_1.jpg

[PhillyRising]

Philadelphia has had a few small scale riots in it's history....going back into the 1800's. During the 1960's...Philadelphia didn't erupt like many other cities did with the widespread destruction. However, there was a small riot along what is now Cecil B Moore Ave in North Philadelphia in the early 60's.

I'm not sure the MOVE incident of May 1985 would classify as a riot...because it was the police who dropped the bomb that led to the burning of all those houses.

However, many Philadelphians do wonder what will happen when our sports championship drought is finally broken. Sports is taken very seriously here and many shudder that people will go so batshit crazy that they'll wreck the place. For the record, I don't think that will happen...we'll jsut have the biggest party ever seen....one that will make the Red Sox parade in Boston look like a kiddie party.

[mrherodotus]

Philadelphia has had a few small scale riots in it's history....going back into the 1800's. During the 1960's...Philadelphia didn't erupt like many other cities did with the widespread destruction. However, there was a small riot along what is now Cecil B Moore Ave in North Philadelphia in the early 60's.

I'm not sure the MOVE incident of May 1985 would classify as a riot...because it was the police who dropped the bomb that led to the burning of all those houses.

However, many Philadelphians do wonder what will happen when our sports championship drought is finally broken. Sports is taken very seriously here and many shudder that people will go so batshit crazy that they'll wreck the place. For the record, I don't think that will happen...we'll jsut have the biggest party ever seen....one that will make the Red Sox parade in Boston look like a kiddie party.


Philly was convulsed by anti Catholic riots in 1844.

[mrherodotus]

The railroad strikes of 1877 led to riots in many cities. In Pittsburgh, at least 25 deaths occured, and damages were over 10 million dollars (in 1877 dollars). Pittsburgh still has scars from the major rioting that occured in 1968 after the death of Martin Luther King. Troops had to be called in to quell the disturbances.

[coyotetrickster]

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist4/maritime17.html
Bloody Thursday was SF's worst riot. There've been many small scale riots throughout the city's history (vigilante riots, several early gay rights motiviated riots, e.g. Compton Diner riot and White Night), but the waterfront riots of the 1930s were the most violent.

[sciguy0504]

Philadelphia has had a few small scale riots in it's history....going back into the 1800's. During the 1960's...Philadelphia didn't erupt like many other cities did with the widespread destruction. However, there was a small riot along what is now Cecil B Moore Ave in North Philadelphia in the early 60's.

I'm not sure the MOVE incident of May 1985 would classify as a riot...because it was the police who dropped the bomb that led to the burning of all those houses.

However, many Philadelphians do wonder what will happen when our sports championship drought is finally broken. Sports is taken very seriously here and many shudder that people will go so batshit crazy that they'll wreck the place. For the record, I don't think that will happen...we'll jsut have the biggest party ever seen....one that will make the Red Sox parade in Boston look like a kiddie party.

MOVE. :haha: :haha: :haha:

[elsonic]

I'll never understand riots caused by... professional sport.

about political issues, yes ok, but football or hockey!?

[mdiederi]

In May, 2002 there was a deadly melee in Laughlin, Nevada, between 70 members of two rival biker gangs, the Hell's Angels and the Mongols, during the annual Laughlin River Run. The media called it a "riot" but I think it was more of a brawl than a riot because I don't remember hearing about looting and vandalism, and all the people fighting were from out of town. Shots were fired inside one of the resorts. Three people died.

[rotten777]

I believe Hartford saw race riots in 1968, like other cities, because of the killing of MLK...

[MonkeyRonin]

I do remember hearing about the West Las Vegas riots at the time, but not much else in the US, never mind Canada.

According to wikipedia, riots also occured in San Fransico, Seattle, New York, Atlanta, Toronto, Dallas, Madison, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Birmingham, and Omaha.

[Comrade]

We don't have riots in Salt Lake, but I guess the "biggest" came in 1872.

During the election for Utah's delegate to Congress, the U.S. marshal took possession of the polls, arrested the city police captain and certain policemen. A mob at City Hall became violent and manhandled Mayor Wells, who later appeared on the balcony, read the riot act and commanded the police restore order. There were cris of "Shoot him, shoot him," as the police disbursed the crowd with some violence. Mayor Wells was arrested by federal officers the following day, but was soon released.

[1ajs]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/WinnipegGeneralStrike.jpg

beginning promptly at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, 15 May 1919, between 25,000 and 30,000 Winnipeg workers walked out on a general strike. Work stopped quickly at the big railway shops and yards across the city, while and all factory production ceased. Winnipeg had no mail, streetcars, taxis, newspapers, telegrams, telephones, gasoline, or milk delivery. Most restaurants, retail stores, and even barber shops closed. Police, fire fighters, and employees of the water works shocked and frightened many in Winnipeg by joining the strike. Canadians across the country wondered what was going on in Winnipeg. The Winnipeg General Strike would last six weeks until it was finally brought to an end by the tragic events of Bloody Saturday.

http://timelinks.merlin.mb.ca/image1/img0402.jpg

[Nutterbug]

I'll never understand riots caused by... professional sport.

about political issues, yes ok, but football or hockey!?
Speaking of which, was the Rocket Richard Riot the worst your city's seen?

[MonkeyRonin]

Speaking of which, was the Rocket Richard Riot the worst your city's seen?

Um no. Montreal has seen dozens (if not hundreds) of riots over the years, which have, you know, actually killed people and stuff?

edit: oh wait, you're from Vancouver. you probably know this already :P

(the worst by the way was probably the Rebellion Losses Bill Riots in the 1800's where they burned down the Parliament)

[williasj]

Heck, I can only think of two other major civil demonstration in Las Vegas. The 1971 welfare rights march on Caesars Palace and the recent protests against the House immigration bill.

on the mention of the riots in Las Vegas that spilled over from the rodney king riots in LA in the early nineties; the riot was in west las vegas near MLK. A strip mall and grocery store were burned down, sadly there is still no grocer in that area.

[Nutterbug]

There were Rodney King riots in just about every city in North American (even Canada).
What is the point of rioting in a completely different jurisdiction from where the whole incident had taken place anyways?

I sense that it's really nothing more than a senseless act of hooligans rioting for the sake of rioting, or opportunistically looking to score some looted goods, without any thought or concern for the incident that led to the mess in the first place.

[Nutterbug]

Um no. Montreal has seen dozens (if not hundreds) of riots over the years, which have, you know, actually killed people and stuff?

edit: oh wait, you're from Vancouver. you probably know this already :P
Actually, no. I was not aware. I guess I need to touch up on my Canadian history.

I guess we're just too mellow and naive to this sort of thing here on the West Coast. ;)

[fflint]

on the mention of the riots in Las Vegas that spilled over from the rodney king riots in LA in the early nineties; the riot was in west las vegas near MLK. A strip mall and grocery store were burned down, sadly there is still no grocer in that area.
A police substation in North Las Vegas was also set fire, accompanied by sniper fire, and the Nevada National Guard was called into North Las Vegas. They remained on patrol for a week. I don't recall the exact number, but there were fatalities associated with the violence in Las Vegas.

I researched the disturbances outside LA tied to the Rodney King-LAPD acquittals, back in undergrad. I should publish it online. There were violent disturbances in dozens and dozens of cities across the nation, from Buffalo to Ames, Iowa. There were full scale riots not only in LA, but also in Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Las Vegas, Atlanta, New York, and even Toronto.

[asher11]

. . . and even Toronto.

As far as I can remember that was just a group of people who wanted to get in on the act so they went downtown to cause trouble on the main thoroughfare. I certainly wouldn't call it a riot. If it was then it was a pretty half-assed attempt.

[joeindt]

Denver: Hop Alley / Chinese Riot in 1880

http://www.lodo.org/walking_tour/hopalleychineseriothtm.htm

The Anti-Chinese riot in November of 1880 is quite a story. Denver had a section of town, populated by Chinese laborers, known as "Hop Alley". The name was in reference to the widespread use of opium amongst the "Celestials" as some people referred to the Chinese at that time. A group of railroad laborers entered a bar in the area and confronted two Chinese men playing pool, hit one of them with a cue stick, and was promptly shot at by the other pool player. He missed, but word quickly spread that a Chinaman had killed a white man. A large crowd gathered with the intent to destroy the Chinese, along with all their possessions. The eight policemen on duty were unable to control the crowd, even with the help of fire hoses. The riot continued into the night. At the time, the police were without a Chief. The City Council held an emergency meeting and appointed Dave Cook as Acting Chief. Cook had previously been City Marshal and was widely known for his bravery and intelligence. He was currently the head of the Rocky Mountain Detective Association, which was widely respected throughout the west as the premier detective agency in the area. In the meantime the riot became worse, as one of the Chinese was lynched. Cook gathered 15 of his own men, and ten others that he knew were tough gunfighters. By this time there were 2000 rioters, destroying the Chinese laundries. Cook and his men arrested nine men trying to torch one of the buildings. When the crowd attempted to free them, Cook instructed his men to fire into the ground, then aim the smoking muzzles of their guns into the rioters faces. That ploy worked well as the mob backed off. Between Cook's men, the police and sheriff's departments, and 125 special officers, the city was quiet by morning.

[Avian001]

In Minneapolis it was the 1934 Teamster strike, which ended in a riot. Roughly 3,000 Teamsters in the trucking industry were joined by an additional 35,000 building trades workers in the general strike against working conditions.

It ended in a 2-day riot. On May 25th, the union was recognized and their demands were met. The strike opened the way for enactment of laws acknowledging and protecting workers' rights.

[elsonic]

Um no. Montreal has seen dozens (if not hundreds) of riots over the years, which have, you know, actually killed people and stuff?

edit: oh wait, you're from Vancouver. you probably know this already :P

(the worst by the way was probably the Rebellion Losses Bill Riots in the 1800's where they burned down the Parliament)

another riot, Guns'n'Roses @ Olympic Stadium, 2002 - like in St. Louis, Philly, Vancouver...

from wikipedia :
... Later in the year they went on a mini-tour with American heavy metal band Metallica. During a show in August 1992 at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, Metallica frontman James Hetfield suffered severe burns after stepping too close to a pyrotechnics blast. Metallica was forced to cancel the second hour of the show, but promised to return to the city for another show. After a long delay, during which the audience became increasingly restless, Guns N' Roses took the stage. However, the shortened time between sets did not allow for adequate tuning of stage monitors resulting in musicians not being able to hear themselves. Compounding the situation were Rose's claims that he had problems with his voice which caused the band to leave the stage early. The cancellation led to another riot by audience members, reminiscent of the rioting that had occurred in St. Louis one year earlier. Rioters overturned cars, smashed windows, looted local stores and set random fires. Local authorities were barely able to bring the mob under control.

[Taller Better]

I can think of lots of riots, historically, in Montreal and Toronto(first I can think of there was the Toronto Rebellion of 1837), and of course the famous General Strike in Winnipeg.
I can't imagine a riot in Vancouver. It is too quiet and well mannered! ;)

[elsonic]

The Exploited had a similar effect on Montréal :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7duv4wT8xQ&mode=related&search

a riot in Vancouver? a bloody war between Japanese students' and Wreck beach naturists :D

[Taller Better]

^^ LOL! I was wrong. There were anti-Asian riots in Vancouver in 1907. Hard
to imagine a modern day riot in Vancouver, though.. people are extremely polite there.

[Ex-Ithacan]

As far as I know Ithaca has had some minor disturbances (usually rowdy, drunk students running amuck). There was an armed take-over by black students of the Cornell student union, but that was more of a protest. A bar near my apartment house was burned down after King was killed (but that might have been an insurance ploy).

I've heard of a mini-riot back in 1972 when police decided to break up a block party in Collegetown neighborhood. It turned sideways, and the crowd and the cops went at it. Several injuries on both sides (including the attempted incineration of an officer - ended up with some burns but not dead). Plenty of arrests. And no, I was not in Ithaca at the time(my old hood even).

[fflint]

As far as I can remember that was just a group of people who wanted to get in on the act so they went downtown to cause trouble on the main thoroughfare. I certainly wouldn't call it a riot. If it was then it was a pretty half-assed attempt.
I briefly noted the Toronto riot in my research paper:

A protest against the LAPD acquittals, as well as against a local police shooting, was held in front of the American consulate in Toronto on May 3, 1992. Hundreds of protesters carried signs reading "White Judge, White Jury, White Justice--from Toronto to LA" and chanted "No Justice, No Peace!" After a rally, the crowd marched through central Toronto to City Hall, where 400 protesters stormed the doors. Mounted police attempted to disperse the crowd, which overturned and burned cars, smashed hundreds of windows, and looted stores before police restored order and made 25 arrests.

I didn't end-note the source, so the information may have come from the LA Times or the New York Times, but it looks like this came from a May 5, 1992 article in the New York Times titled Window-Smashing and Looting Spree Erupts in Toronto.

[Taller Better]

I briefly noted the Toronto riot in my research paper:

A protest against the LAPD acquittals, as well as against a local police shooting, was held in front of the American consulate in Toronto on May 3, 1992. Hundreds of protesters carried signs reading "White Judge, White Jury, White Justice--from Toronto to LA" and chanted "No Justice, No Peace!" After a rally, the crowd marched through central Toronto to City Hall, where 400 protesters stormed the doors. Mounted police attempted to disperse the crowd, which overturned and burned cars, smashed hundreds of windows, and looted stores before police restored order and made 25 arrests.

I didn't end-note the source, so the information may have come from the LA Times or the New York Times, but it looks like this came from a May 5, 1992 article in the New York Times titled Window-Smashing and Looting Spree Erupts in Toronto.


I remember the night. The crowd stormed up Yonge St and rather selectively smashed windows in electronics, leather stores, etc... they didn't bother with dollar stores. Some of the crowd was a legitimate protest against the Rodney King affair and some of it was just there to loot. After that day they had to install folding steel grates on all doors on Yonge St which before that had only been an American thing.

[jmecklenborg]

Here is a description of the annual Time Change Riot in Athens in 2003. OU was recently demoted from #2 party school to #6 and the slow death of the time change riot is part of the reason. Closing time is 2am, because of the time change the strip's 23 bars have to close an hour early therefore everyone riots. Of course, there were more than a few Ohio Staters who came down just to riot...this was the last year that there was anything resembling a riot, it got much rowdier in the late 90's with many overturned cars. In 2003 this was only a week or so after the US Army rolled into Iraq, peopel were fired up. Nobody parties like Ohio and Wisconsin, to all of you who went to fancy schools, you missed out.

The 2003 OU Time-Change Riot did not disappoint. I
arrived on the scene at about 12:45, and already by
then the sidewalks were overflowing and anticipation was thick. When the bars were cleared a few
minutes later, a crowd of about 1,500 lined the Court
St. sidewalks for the long block between State St. and
the Courthouse. Most upper floor apartment windows
were crowded with onlookers dangling feet over the
sills, and the always rowdy balcony above Subway had
about 40 people on it. The Diner, that bagel place,
and a few other vulnerable businesses closed early and
hoped for the best. By my count, the police force
consisted of 8 mounted officers and about 12 on foot,
all outfitted in riot gear, including the horses.
Their numbers were pretty thin, I thought, to actually
keep if order if things really got out of hand. I
spotted the officer who made me do the line walk and
flashlight test on Thursday night in an under-age
ambush, and after that recent brush with the law I was
on my best behavior.

The crowd consisted mostly of fraternity guys,
sorority girls, and Court St. regulars such as myself.
Hipsters, Hippies, Dorks, Asians, Townies, and Grad
Students were curiously absent. The clock ticked from
12:59 to 2:00 uneventfully. Everyone just stood on the
sidewalks for about 10 minutes waiting for something
to happen, when a big Dodge Ram drove down the street,
revvving its engine. A girl went out and kissed the
driver to the delight of the crowd. That was quickly
followed by someone on the balcony above Subway
emerging from their apartment with an American flag,
waving it magestically. With that, all assembled
chanted "USA!", poured into the street, and with that
the 2003 Time-Change Riot was underway.

A large stereo blasted "Born in the USA" as
girlfriends took to their boyfriend's shoulders and
flashed nobody in particular. Beer cans were tossed
into the air, off balconies, and out of upper floor
windows. Mardi Gras beads went flying. This chaos
lasted no more than a minute when the mounted
police came charging in, causing a dangerous rush of
humanity back to the sidewalks. Curiously the music changed to
"Sweet Home Alabama" as chants taunting the police
rose from the crowd and continued for the next hour.

From here on out, the "riot" consisted of the police
attempting to keep people on the sidewalks, with
occasional surges into the street beat back with
charges from the horses. From the anonymity of the
densely packed crowd, beer cans were thrown regularly
at the police, and probably half of them by girls.
One guy near me resorted to throwing breath mints when
he ran out of beer cans. I even saw someone throw a
CD, which dribbled pathetically down the cobble stone
street on its side. Again, close to half of these
items were being thrown by the rowdy girls in the
crowd, since they can get away with it (and it's
probably why so many things were off target too!).
But things got out of hand though when full beer cans
and glass bottles were thrown; I even saw one bottle
shatter on a police officer's helmet.

I took refuge behind a Toyota Previa minivan
underneath the balcony above Subway, and a chubby
sorority girl, with the help of a few friends, got on
top of the van and and flashed her fatty boobs for the
opposite sidewalk. In an excessive display of force,
the head police officer rushed over, almost knocked me
over, and escorted her to the paddy wagon as she was
saluted by the crowd.

Arrests were made about every 3 minutes, by my
estimation at least 10 but not more than 20 were
carted away. While arresting individuals, members of
the crowd took advantage of the police having their
backs turned and hit them with some more beer cans or
walked confidently out into the street. I saw one guy
casually walk across the street between two officers
who had their backs turned to one another. Another
funny sight was a young professionally dressed woman,
probably a grad student of some kind, who takes
herself way too seriously being escorted down the
middle of the street by an officer to her (tastefully
decorated) apartment above one of the bars. Her
crossed arms and stern _expression were indicative of
somebody that simply doesn't get it.

Relentlessly taunting the police all night was a
bratty looking guy on the opposite sidewalk wearing a
bad suit with his shirt untucked. I knew he had it
coming. The horses kept coming over his way and he
would obnoxiously ask to pet them, slap them on the
rump, pull their tails, and offer them empty beer
cans. In a sequence of events that was unclear from
my and probably his vantage point as well, something
happened over there and it looked like he was actually
bitten by the horse and knocked over. He laid face
down on the concrete for about a minute, as "Man
Down!" alarms rose over the crowd and there was a
surge for a better view. He staggered to his feet,
and I thought he was faking it, but if he was, he kept
his act up for the next 30 minutes. He was in obvious
pain with a bit of blood dripping off his forehead and
into his right eye. He tied his cheap neck tie around
his forehead wedding reception style as a bandage
but kept his hand over his
eye for the rest of the night. He caused no more
trouble after that -- whoever said violence doesn't
solve anything?!

It was unclear as to how this stalemate was going to
end. Typically, riots end either with a spectacular
show of force or because it starts to rain. Was the
national guard going to roll tanks down the street?
Were the police going to bust out the tear gas or
bring out the water hoses? Was a storm going to roll
in out of nowhere?

Instead the standoff came to an end for the same noble
reason it happens every year in the first place:
denied access to alcohol. It appears after an hour of
chanting and throwing beer cans at the police, with no
alcoholic reinforcements, all flasks had been
exhausted and folks simply moved peacefully on to
after-hours parties. It was a slow trickle at first,
but then like a flock of birds shifting direction with
no apparent impetus, the crowd simply dispersed at
about 3:10, within a 5 minute time span. Part of it
was surely caused by the arrest of the rowdiest
members of the crowd, but still, the whims of mob
mentality never fail to intrigue.

This year's riot had a decidedly patriotic theme, with
exhortations like "We're doing this for the troops!"
rising out of the crowd, and a tear-jerking patriotic
soundtrack that included the aforementioned tunes and
repeated playings of "Bombs Over Baghdad" from upper
floor apartments. While Halloween here is definitely
a much bigger party than this, it is these spontaneous
events that give rise to authentic local traditions.
The town could turn this annual Time Change Riot into
a money-maker by having an officially sanctioned
street festival after the bars close early. But since
they won't I will -- next year I'm going to make and
sell "I survived the 2004 time change" T-shirts.

[Taller Better]

Wow. Nothing like a riot with a good Cause.

[dfane]

Riots can be funny any more its just a bunch of wild natives looking for sneakers.

[Snickers52]

The rioting in Atlanta at the time of the Rodney King debacle is the only rioting I can recall in my 32 years here. And I wouldn't call it much of a riot. It basically consisted of a relatively small group of people downtown who took it as an opportunity to stock up on a few appliances and some clothing. They broke a few windows, a few people did rampage through the downtown Macy's and ran screaming on Peachtree St., but it was pretty much all over very quickly.

[fflint]

The rioting in Atlanta at the time of the Rodney King debacle is the only rioting I can recall in my 32 years here. And I wouldn't call it much of a riot. It basically consisted of a relatively small group of people downtown who took it as an opportunity to stock up on a few appliances and some clothing. They broke a few windows, a few people did rampage through the downtown Macy's and ran screaming on Peachtree St., but it was pretty much all over very quickly.
Part of the reason people remember the Rodney King riots *outside* Los Angeles as no big deal is because the media portrayed them as such--but when you look at the facts they were certainly notable. When was the last time the National Guard came into Las Vegas or Atlanta? When the Rodney King riots were going on, that's when.

Here's what I've got for Atlanta's two days of disturbances:

April 30, 1992: 75 injured; 300 arrested; curfew imposed.

While 400 gathered peacefully to rally at the tomb of MLK Jr., a rally of several hundred turned ugly as the crowd surged off campus and then retreated back in. Protesters threw bricks and bottles at riot police, burned cars, smashed windows, and looted 50 stores. Some even attacked journalists and photographers on the street, and officeworkers on a MARTA subway platform. Police responded by clearing four downtown campuses with tear gas.

Elsewhere, protesters massed at the Georgia State Capitol, and then broke through a police cordon, throwing bricks and bottles, attacking a staffer, and overturnoing and burning a governor's aide's car before police beat them back.

A citywide overnight curfew was imposed.

--
May 1, 1992: 22 injured; 70 arrests; curfew reimposed; GA National Guard patrols from sky

After curfew was lifted, students again massed for rallies on several campuses. When Georgia State Police refused to allow the students to leave their campuses, a crowd of several hundred began throwing rocks and bottles. Police responded with several volleys of teargas, and all six downtown campuses were cleared and sealed off for the following two days.

Elsewhere, a car was overturned and burned in a downtown intersection.

An overnight curfew was reimposed, and the Georgia National Guard began patrolling the city in helicopters.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Here ya go, find your city on the list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_riots

[Nutterbug]

I remember the night. The crowd stormed up Yonge St and rather selectively smashed windows in electronics, leather stores, etc... they didn't bother with dollar stores. Some of the crowd was a legitimate protest against the Rodney King affair and some of it was just there to loot. After that day they had to install folding steel grates on all doors on Yonge St which before that had only been an American thing.
If they were protesting against the Rodney King verdict in a foreign country, who were they directing their protest at? Was it just outside the US consulate general's office or something?

[SpongeG]

I'll never understand riots caused by... professional sport.

about political issues, yes ok, but football or hockey!?

i agree its odd but you get 20,000 people together - most of them having had some alcohol...

[jessie_sanchez]

Los Angeles 1992

http://pro.corbis.com/images/JS001209.jpg?size=67&uid={6b361e83-58bc-4249-b60b-17ded7fba460}

http://pro.corbis.com/images/AAFG002601.jpg?size=67&uid={6818a71d-71fa-44be-8b0b-39ac0417d62a}

http://pro.corbis.com/images/JS001243.jpg?size=67&uid={5100f1fb-2da7-4361-a230-519bbeec74a8}

http://pro.corbis.com/images/UT0033353.jpg?size=67&uid={915fa7be-e09b-4977-9212-f50885ab942d}

http://pro.corbis.com/images/AAFG002603.jpg?size=67&uid={1c9aaf37-cb38-4b5c-94c1-38797c99f2b8}

http://pro.corbis.com/images/TL026693.jpg?size=67&uid={6123662e-0741-49cb-ac60-2b10eba5a94c}

http://pro.corbis.com/images/AAFG002597.jpg?size=67&uid={10907bb6-c36d-40d7-94df-a4c827435858}

[SpongeG]

^^ LOL! I was wrong. There were anti-Asian riots in Vancouver in 1907. Hard
to imagine a modern day riot in Vancouver, though.. people are extremely polite there.

polite here?

thats nice to hear - usually i hear from toronto people is that Vancouver is full of snobs and is extremely unfriendly

check out www.discovervancouver.com forum its full of Vancouver bashing - oddly enough considering its a forum for and about vancouver

[glowrock]

Jessie, those images of the 1992 Los Angeles riots bring back way too many bad memories... :(

Aaron (Glowrock)

[northstar]

I think we must back to the good old 1980'ies, when the anarchist-group called Blitz made riots every night before may 1'st, and on other occations, such as when Margaret Thatcher visited the city in 1986(they almost managed to break through the barriers protecting her). Later there were war-like conditions between Blitz and neonazis.

They have still occupied this building in the centre of Oslo, but their rebellion nature has declined with the average age of the inhabitants :D
http://www.mamut.com/homepages/Norway/1/9/meridianfoto/2006-5d--_mg_4373_450b_pp.jpg

[mrherodotus]

According to wikipedia, riots also occured in San Fransico, Seattle, New York, Atlanta, Toronto, Dallas, Madison, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Birmingham, and Omaha.

HUH! Believe me, there were no riots in Pittsburgh after the Rodney King verdict.

[giovanni sasso]

thanks for that wiki link, ithacan. i was unaware of any significant riots in philadelphia, but i knew of the incident in north philly in '65 -- i just didn't know its extent. there were also riots here in 1844 (anti-catholic) and in the 1700s (revolutionary related). it's actually kind of surprising there weren't riots in light of the city bombing a house full of black radicals in '85.

interestingly, there were race riots in chester in 1918 in which five were killed, and it spread into philly the next day, where four more were killed.


to a far lesser degree, there was a riot on south street in 2001 during mardi gras. i was there, and it was crazy -- basically just drunken idiots being disobedient, damaging and looting a number of stores (including both liquor stores on or near south st), with some fighting, but no one was injured or killed. it did, though, lead to an extreme change in how mardi gras was handled.

[LoKKiTo]

NYC:

Race riots after the MLK assassination.

Riots after Malcolm X assassinated.

1977 Blackout riot.

Washington Heights Riot in I think 1992.

Crown Heights Riot in like 1991.

Riot in the Longwood section of the Bronx in like 04.

There were more, wish I had some pictures.

[Latoso]

Every year the Filene's Basement Bridal Sale gets worse and worse. Oh the humanity!

[Exodus]

Website showing actual video clips of the riots of what used to be 12th Street.

http://www.efootage.com/clip_list.php?master_id=DV-257

http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/692a5da18d704c42662b7ee6e882dd5b-.jpg
http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/9b248ff582698ae117b2a03dfa0d7cd4-.jpg
http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/e9ab600e2e0c7ee547f5ccd8c1f28368-.jpg

As you can see, theres not much left of the area still today.
http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/73166e3893e3d5dde7b3300ef0faff33-.jpg
http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/cab3f32b506a7a2706fa0fc93390b882-.jpg
http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/a19704297e9eb4d60290a141446789d1-.jpg

[AZheat]

Let's see, the worst riot in Phoenix must have been the denture shortage riot back in 92 when club weilding seniors took to the streets and pounded the shit out of onlookers and gummed police who tried to hold them back.

[Exodus]

Let's see, the worst riot in Phoenix must have been the denture shortage riot back in 92 when club weilding seniors took to the streets and pounded the shit out of onlookers and gummed police who tried to hold them back.Reminds me of a particular Simpsons episode:haha:

[i-215]

THE WORST RIOT... of Salt Lake City
That I'm aware of....

Crowds, beer fueled melee[b]
[b](During the 2002 Olympic Games)

Mayhem resulted in 20 arrests, minor injuries to officers

By Pat Reavy and Derek Jensen
Deseret News staff writers

Associated Press labeled it an "unruly crowd" and "mayhem." Cable TV's MSNBC called it a "clash." CNN reported it as "Olympic partying turned violent" and a "beer brawl." Others just described it as a "disturbance."
IMAGE
A man lies down in the street in front of police during a riot that broke out in downtown Salt Lake City the night before the 2002 Winter Olympics ended.

Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News
Whatever you call the face-off late Saturday and early Sunday between police and alcohol-fueled partygoers on Main Street, both Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse and Mayor Rocky Anderson say: Don't call it a riot.
"I know what a riot is, and this was not a riot," said Dinse, who formerly worked for the Los Angeles Police Department for 32 years and was involved in controlling the riots sparked from the Rodney King verdict of 1992.
"I anticipated far worse than this and far earlier," Anderson said. "This was certainly not a riot. That would be a vast exaggeration of the situation."
Still, according to state law a riot is defined as two or more persons who engage in "tumultuous or violent conduct" and thereby create a "substantial risk of causing public harm," commit an offense against a person or property, or refuse to comply with "a lawful order to withdraw."
Two weeks of peaceful celebrations did turn ugly on the second to last night of the Olympics as unruly crowds tossed beer bottles at officers, jumped on the hoods of cars and tossed street signs and barricades into buildings.
A helicopter and 200 to 300 local and federal officers in riot gear were deployed to disperse the crowds. Some of the officers were on horses. Twenty people were arrested late Saturday and early Sunday.
Dinse said the trouble began when Bud World at the Gallivan Center became too crowded and couldn't admit anyone else. Bud World was hit with a crush of people about 10:30 p.m. when about 30,000 revelers exited Salt Lake Olympic Square after the nightly concert featuring 'N Sync.
It is estimated there were 6,000 to 8,000 people at each of the two entrances to Bud World on 200 South and Main Street, Dinse said. Several thousand people who had been waiting in line a long time were unhappy with the decision to close early.
The police chief said officers became concerned when some females were being harassed by members of the unruly crowd. That's when police in riot gear declared the crowd an "unlawful assembly" and moved in.
IMAGE
A man winds up to throw a bottle toward oncoming police officers. A brawl broke out after doors to Bud World closed early.

Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News
"We sent officers in to basically rescue those females out of the crowd," Dinse said.
Thousands of people lined both sides of Main Street as officers formed a line and marched south on the east side of the road, pushing everyone back. As officers armed with billy clubs and guns with rubber bullets went down the street, some people yelled obscenities and threw rocks and bottles. At one point the chant of "USA" rang through the crowd.
"The cops came marching in and everyone got mad," said Brandon Bulough, who was hit the leg with a rubber bullet. "It was pretty crazy."
The officers continued to push the crowd south on Main Street. Even those waiting in line for TRAX were moved down the street. Dinse said officers helped families and those with young children find buses and TRAX cars without being injured.
By the time the crowd reached 300 South, rocks, glass bottles, beer cans and firecrackers were being thrown regularly. An officer was hit by a branch that someone had torn from a tree. A few officers suffered minor injuries, Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard said. One was treated for a twisted knee, Dinse said.
At that point, officers had been pushing the crowd south for almost an hour, Dinse said. Both Dinse and the mayor on Sunday praised police for showing what they called "tremendous restraint" in not firing rubber pellets into the crowd any earlier than they did.
"The officers showed total restraint in light of a tremendous amount of people trying to agitate them," Dinse said. "They took a potentially dramatic situation and made it nondramatic."
IMAGE
People run as Salt Lake police begin firing rubber pellets into the crowd. More than 12,000 people were turned away at entrances to Bud World.

Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News
But when bottles started being thrown frequently at officers it was time to disperse the gathering in a different manner, Dinse said.
About 12:30 a.m., officers at 300 South and Main Street fired rubber bullets into the crowd, causing many people to make a mad scramble west on 300 South. Police tried to divide the crowd by pushing some people south on Main Street and others east and west on 300 South.
A Deseret News photographer, who was caught in the push southbound, was hit in the stomach with a billy club by one officer while taking photos of the dispersing crowds in front of the Federal Courthouse near 400 South. The blow also shattered the photographer's flash.
Opening fire seemed to fuel the crowd's anger. Some people began jumping on the hoods of cars while others threw signs and barricades into buildings and into the street.
"Things like this don't happen in Utah," said one appalled young woman from North Carolina.
Officers moving west on 300 South ran at the crowd while firing more rubber bullets to push them back faster. Police chased the crowd to West Temple and then pushed them north again. Dinse said an estimated 40 rounds of rubber bullets were fired during the melee.
Ian Booth was taking pictures of the police when he was hit by a rubber bullet. "The cop told everyone to leave, then I took a picture and they started firing at the ground and the bullet ricocheted into my leg," he said.
Twenty people were arrested, mostly on charges of failing to disperse, public intoxication and assaulting an officer. Eighteen of those arrested were adults, and two were juveniles. The majority of those arrested were Utah residents. Dinse said at least one Canadian was arrested.
Additional arrests may be made as officers investigate three reports of assaults on police officers, Dinse said.
With the exception of minor bruising and welts caused by the rubber pellets, there were no reports of anyone in the crowd suffering serious injuries, Dinse said.
Police were tallying the damage to the city Sunday. Dinse said there were several broken store windows and reports of three parking meters being ripped out of the ground. Three Salt Lake police cars were reported damaged, he said.
Dinse said police were investigating a report of a private vehicle being attacked as it was trying to leave the area.
Many people complained police were randomly shoving and firing at innocent bystanders. Some said police overreacted.
"We're always looked at as the ones who started it," Dinse said. "There would have been far more problems if we hadn't (taken action)."
Dinse admitted the police's lack of enforcement of the state's open-container law in downtown Salt Lake City during the Olympics was partly to blame for the mayhem.
"In hindsight, I would say that there's no question alcohol had an impact on the actions of the crowd," Dinse said. "The fact of enforcement is a matter of logistics."
Dinse said it was difficult for officers to enforce the open-container laws with so many people drinking. Amid worries of terrorism and violent protests, police chose to focus on more serious security concerns and let open-container violations slide.
IMAGE
Officers wrestle a man to the ground during mayhem in Salt Lake City. Twenty people were arrested.

Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News
"If I had my druthers I would not have allowed that to occur," Dinse said, adding the open-container law would be strictly enforced on the final day of the Olympics. Bud World closed at 5 p.m. Sunday.
By early Sunday morning police were still patrolling downtown, watching for groups gathering outside. City cleanup crews worked double time to clear the streets of broken glass, empty beer cans and other debris.
Anderson characterized the mayhem as an isolated incident that shouldn't distract from the overall success of the Games. "I don't think you've ever seen a more peaceful celebration with this many people. This was extremely peaceful."
Prior to Saturday's incident, Anderson said there had only been five arrests for Olympic-related disturbances.
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge called the incident "unfortunate" but added it was "not a Games-related issue."
Mitt Romney, president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, dismissed the incident as an aberration.
"There were 200 to 300 people who had a few too many and needed to be sent home, and they were done so with dispatch," Romney said. "You're going to have some celebrations when alcohol is concerned late at night, and that's not something that was part of the Olympic experience."
A similar problem with celebrants was experienced on the final night of the Summer Olympics in Sydney when more than a million people jammed its Olympic area.

Contributing: Associated Press
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com; djensen@desnews.com

[Exodus]

A few live local pics of 12th Street. A few older structures survived, but obviously most didn't. In some cases lots have been redeveloped.
http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/950836e743917dd45ad7dea64e18fb5c-.jpg

http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/20ed4e6ef9af6cfbd5543c03254d34c3-.jpg

http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/022f4c6ce68be74a8ad7ff399089505e-.jpg

http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/d8675d1ad30330901722345e4ea1acf5-.jpg

http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/79280edb7c3278b20d3edac5f65fd9be-.jpg

http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/fa3ca6e25b84750d00113508c3c21886-.jpg

http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/7d120fa7091a3cc9e899f4e239327b06-.jpg

http://steelflame.zoto.com/img/original/0bfaf8aa9c9fe44fd036f8f73bc76ab6-.jpg

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[Xelebes]

Gainer's Strike was a better example of a violent riot, but the Whyte Ave riot was much larger. The Whyte Ave riot (2006) was mostly people overcrowding the street and got too carried away with things.

[Taller Better]

polite here?

thats nice to hear - usually i hear from toronto people is that Vancouver is full of snobs and is extremely unfriendly

check out www.discovervancouver.com forum its full of Vancouver bashing - oddly enough considering its a forum for and about vancouver

Yabutt, politely snobbish.... not the riotous type! LOL! ;)

[Lakelander]

Jacksonville, FL

August 27, 1960 - Ax Handle Sunday

40 members of the NAACP Youth Council attempt sit-in demonstrations at Woolworth and W.T. Grant Department Store lunch counters are met by a crowd of 150 white men armed with ax handles and attacked. This may not be a race riot, but it was the beginning of the end of segregation in Jacksonville.

So I guess our worst race riot happened in the Eastside on November 1, 1969.

Summary:

A white truck driver accuses a 20 year old black man of stealing from his truck shooting him, triggering a riot the next day and lasting a weekend that resulted with looting and the burning of several buildings along Florida Avenue, the Eastside's commercial district.

[UncleRando]

Cincinnati: 1884 Race Riot
The deadliest riot in U.S. history took place. It was started by a predominantley white mob that spanned the social-economic spectrum in reaction to their anger over the failure of a white-immigrant co-defendant to be convicted of murder in a sensationalized trial while their non-white was sentenced to death.
-Wikipedia


Riot of 1884 among bloodiest in history
MARK PAINTER / CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
March 27, 2003

CINCINNATI - Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Cincinnati Courthouse Riot of 1884. The carnage and destruction in 1884 far exceeded what happened two years ago.

In the 1880s, many Cincinnatians thought the criminal justice system was corrupt. There had been rumors of jury bribing, and there were long delays in trials. Murders were common. There were 93 murders in Cincinnati in 1883! (Compare that with 49 in 2001, 65 in 2003.)

A full-page article ran in The Cincinnati Enquirer, on March 9, 1884, headlined "The College of Murder." The story reported:

"Laxity of laws gives the Queen City of the West its crimson record. Pre-eminence in art, science, and industry avail nothing where murder is rampant and the lives of citizens are unsafe even in broad daylight."

The incident that sparked the riots happened on Christmas Eve 1883. Two men had robbed and murdered their employer, a stable owner, and dumped his body near the Mill Creek in Northside. One man was white, the other black. Everyone thought they would hang, which was the punishment then for murder.

But the first one to come to trial, the white man, William Berger, had a shady lawyer, Tom Campbell, whom the family had scraped together money to hire. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter. Manslaughter was a lesser offense, and saved Berner from hanging.

People were outraged, and the newspapers inflamed their passions. Many thought the jury had been bribed.

A protest meeting was held at Music Hall, but it got out of hand. A mob marched on the jail, which was behind the Courthouse. Their intention was to take and hang Berner - and perhaps all the other 23 murderers inside. But the sheriff had already been moved Berner out of town by rail.

In the next few days, 56 people were killed in the rioting - police, militiamen, firefighters and rioters. More than 200 were injured. About 10,000 white rioters took part. The mob held the area around the courthouse for three days, battling with police, militia, and firefighters.

On March 29, the mob burned the courthouse to the ground. William Desmond, a lawyer and captain of militia, was killed by a gunshot as he tried to protect the courthouse. A statue of Captain Desmond now graces the lobby of the present courthouse.

While the courthouse burned, a regiment of militia from Dayton arrived by train. When they saw the scene at the courthouse, they caught the next train back to Dayton.

Because local militia had trouble firing on their friends and neighbors, more state militia were sent in by railroad from Columbus. They stopped the out-of-control crowd. The Columbus troops brought a Gatling gun, which made an impression on the mob.

In the aftermath, more people were hanged, including Berner's co-defendant, and some reforms were made. William Howard Taft, then a young lawyer, was named head of a committee to reform the criminal law. He had been incensed at the "farcical" administration of justice in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Courthouse Riot was atypical. Not caused by race or wartime draft or labor strife, it stands as one of the most destructive riots in American history.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/03/27/editorial_painterguest.html

[Major AWACS]

The New York Draft riots as noted on page one are thought by many to be the larest in US History lasting days with death tolls ranging from 40 to +100. It involved over 50,000 people, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 was the largest race riot. The official death toll inTulsa was 39 but the actual reports in the media and by folks afterword was near 300 dead. Many blacks did not report their dead at that time.

As for Houston the largest IIRC would be the 1917 Riots
"The Houston Riot of 1917 was a mutiny by one hundred and fifty black soldiers of the Third Battalion of the (black) Twenty-fourth United States Infantry. It lasted one afternoon, and resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and fifteen civilians. The rioters were tried at three courts-martial. Ninteen were executed, and fifty-one were given life sentences."

On August 23, 1917, a riot erupted in Houston. Near noon, two policemen arrested a black soldier for interfering with their arrest of a black woman in the Fourth Ward.qv Early in the afternoon, when Cpl. Charles Baltimore, one of the twelve black military policemen with the battalion, inquired about the soldier's arrest, words were exchanged and the policeman hit Baltimore over the head. The MPs fled. The police fired at Baltimore three times, chased him into an unoccupied house, and took him to police headquarters. Though he was soon released, a rumor quickly reached Camp Logan that he had been shot and killed. A group of soldiers decided to march on the police station in the Fourth Ward and secure his release. If the police could assault a model soldier like Baltimore, they reasoned, none of them was safe from abuse. Maj. Kneeland S. Snow, battalion commander, initially discounted the news of impending trouble. Around 8 P.M. Sgt. Vida Henry of I Company confirmed the rumors, and Kneeland ordered the first sergeants to collect all rifles and search the camp for loose ammunition. During this process, a soldier suddenly screamed that a white mob was approaching the camp. Black soldiers rushed into the supply tents, grabbed rifles, and began firing wildly in the direction of supposed mob. The white officers found it impossible to restore order. Sergeant Henry led over 100 armed soldiers toward downtown Houston by way of Brunner Avenue and San Felipe Street and into the Fourth Ward. In their two-hour march on the city, the mutinous blacks killed fifteen whites, including four policemen, and seriously wounded twelve others, one of whom, a policeman, subsequently died. Four black soldiers also died. Two were accidentally shot by their own men, one in camp and the other on San Felipe Street. After they had killed Capt. Joseph Mattes of the Illinois National Guard, obviously mistaking him for a policeman, the blacks began quarreling over a course of action. After two hours, Henry advised the men to slip back into camp in the darkness—and shot himself in the head.

Ciao, and Hook 'em Horns,
Capt-AWACS, It's all the same in the dark

[Jeff_in_Dayton]

Dayton has been, historically, fairly peacefull, but there have been three big disturbances.

One, in the 1840s, was a race riot, that drove the blacks from the city. The leader of the white mob was killed by the blacks, though. The cause was the belief that the blacks where keeping a white woman against her will (though the woman was apparently a light skinned mulatto).

Then, there was a bad labor disturbance in the late 1940s, after WWII, around unionization of a lens company, Univis, which led to the National Guard being called out.

Finally the 1966 riots was a blacks vs police riot, that affected the inner West side neighborhoods. This one also led the National Gaurd to be called out.

@@@@

Louisville has had a number of disturbances.

The "Bloody Monday" riots of the 1850s, which was sectarian violence directed at Irish and German Catholics, resulted in 30 deaths. This was probably the bloodiest riot in Louisville history.

There was labor violence and disturbances in the 1870s associated with a railroad strike.

There was the Parkland riots of 1968, which was related to the killing of MLK.

Then the ones I was involved in, the anti-bussing riots of the 1970s (76?), which were mostly in the suburban areas of Valley Station and Okolona, and a bit in Fairdale.
These where fairly destructive in the Valley Station area (lots of broken glass windows) but no injuries.

[WilliamTheArtist]

Unfortunately Tulsa can claim to be the home of one of the worst, if not the worst riot in US history. They recently had the State form a Race Riot Commission to look into what happened back in 1921. .

Tulsa at the time had one of the wealthiest black communities in the US having some of the first black millionairs. It was a large and bustling community with its own hotels, doctors, dentists, newspapers, shops, restaurants, community center, libraries, etc. It was basically a vibrant urban city all its own, right next to the downtown of the white community. It was this white community that invaded and tried to destroy the black community.

The riot was actually a small scale battle which even included the use of airplanes. It may have been the first time in US history that airplanes were used to shoot at civilians and drop incendiary devices on a city. 35 city blocks in the black district were devistated in the fires. The consensus seems to be that about 300 people were killed, thousands were wounded. More than 1,400 homes and businesses were destroyed. Machine guns were used. Over 10,000 were left homeless. Over 6000 blacks were rounded up, marched through the streets and placed in internment camps, while thousands of others fled. The blacks tried to fight back and fend off the onslaught, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.





Some excerpts from this article.... http://blackwallstreet.org/bwshistory/bwstulsa1830-1921.m.htm

Then it happened. As the black men were leaving the courthouse for the second time, a white man approached a tall African American World War I veteran who was carrying an army-issue revolver. "Nigger", the white man said, "What are you doing with that pistol?" "I'm going to use it if I need to," replied the black veteran. "No, you give it to me." Like hell I will." The white man tried to take the gun away from the veteran, and a shot rang out.106 America's worst race riot had begun. ......

The mob action was set off when several [white] men chased a Negro man down the alley in back of the theater and out onto Fourth Street where be saw the stage door and dashed inside. Seeing the open door the Negro rushed in and hurried forward in the darkness hunting a place to hide.

Suddenly he was on the stage in front of the picture screen and blinded by the bright flickering light coming down from the operator's booth in the balcony. After shielding his eyes for a moment he regained his vision enough to locate the steps leading from the stage down past the orchestra pit to the aisle just as the pursuing men rushed the stage. One of them saw the Negro and yelled, "there he is, heading for the aisle". As he finished the sentence, a roaring blast from a shotgun dropped the Negro man by the end of the orchestra pit.115 .....

In other white neighborhoods across Tulsa, a different kind of activity was taking place, particularly during the first hours following midnight. As word of what some would later call the "Negro uprising" began to spread across the white community, groups of armed whites began to gather at hastily-arranged meeting places, to discuss what to do next.134 ....

Several eyewitnesses later recalled that when dawn came at 5:08 a.m. that morning, an unusual whistle or siren sounded, perhaps as a signal for the mass assault on Greenwood to begin. Although the source of this whistle or siren is still unknown, moments later, the white mobs made their move. While the machine gun in the grain elevator opened fire, crowds of armed whites poured across the Frisco tracks, headed straight for the African American commercial district...

For Dimple Bush, the flight from Greenwood had bordered upon the indescribable. "It was just dawn; the machine guns were sweeping the valley with their murderous fire and my heart was filled with dread as we sped along,," she recalled, "Old women and men, children were running and screaming everywhere."151

Soon, however, new perils developed. As the mobs of armed whites rushed into the southern end of the African American district, airplanes -- manned by whites -- also appeared overhead. As Dr. R.T. Bridgewater, a well-respected black Tulsa physician, later described what happened: ....


http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/9089/thetulsaraceriotaqo1.jpg

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7126/snapshot95axh7.jpg

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/2236/riot003aoa6.jpg

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/1605/35bloc1aac8.jpg

Some video clips and news stories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHVQEk8fi2M&feature=related

This has some interesting info in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH900FGqwKs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYI1XAe-Tow&NR=1

[Cambridgite]

For Cambridge, Ontario, our worst riots occur when Portugal plays in the world cup. A few years ago, they lost to Greece. But before that last game, there was honking and the waving of Portugal flags from car windows everywhere. It was difficult to sleep and quite a nightmare I must say. When Greece shut them up, I slept well and silently celebrated in my own mind.

Yep, that's my story...pretty violent stuff up here in Canada. ;)

[Cambridgite]

polite here?

thats nice to hear - usually i hear from toronto people is that Vancouver is full of snobs and is extremely unfriendly

check out www.discovervancouver.com forum its full of Vancouver bashing - oddly enough considering its a forum for and about vancouver

I checked it out and looked through some threads under Wild West. HILARIOUS!! Most of them have nothing to do with Vancouver and are just excuses to make a load of race-bashing. I think my favourite drama queen would be Rexdale_Punjabi_Brown_Pride. Every post is a punchline!!

http://discovervancouver.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=223483

[LivingIn622]

1967 riot. Detroit. Alot of buildings where burned and destroyed. Overall this is what started a rapid decline in Detroit. Detroit's population before and after the riot. 1950 1,849,568 13.9%
1960 1,670,144 -9.7%
1970 1,514,063 -9.3%
1980 1,203,368 -20.5%
1990 1,027,974 -14.6%
2000 951,270 -7.5%
Est. 2006 918,849 -3.4%

[gatt]

another riot, Guns'n'Roses @ Olympic Stadium, 2002 - like in St. Louis, Philly, Vancouver...

from wikipedia :
... Later in the year they went on a mini-tour with American heavy metal band Metallica. During a show in August 1992 at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, Metallica frontman James Hetfield suffered severe burns after stepping too close to a pyrotechnics blast. Metallica was forced to cancel the second hour of the show, but promised to return to the city for another show. After a long delay, during which the audience became increasingly restless, Guns N' Roses took the stage. However, the shortened time between sets did not allow for adequate tuning of stage monitors resulting in musicians not being able to hear themselves. Compounding the situation were Rose's claims that he had problems with his voice which caused the band to leave the stage early. The cancellation led to another riot by audience members, reminiscent of the rioting that had occurred in St. Louis one year earlier. Rioters overturned cars, smashed windows, looted local stores and set random fires. Local authorities were barely able to bring the mob under control.


i was there.we went to see the concert after a 10 hrs bus ride from Rouyn-Noranda.we had to wait 3hrs in front Maurice Richard arena to go back home.

[Austinlee]

For Pittsburgh: 1998. The "pizza-bagel" riot, it was called.
It all started when a black woman and a white woman both reached for the last box of pizza bagels in their neighborhood grocers freezer. This certainly was the tipping point for what had been years of building pizza-bagel shortage tensions. 1,000,000 people were killed in the ensuing riot.

[tackledspoon]

Though I live in New York, I've long been representing New Jersey, so I'll cover the Newark riots that coincided with the Detroit riot of '67. Between July 12 and 18, 2007, 26 people were killed, 725 people injured, and close to 1,500 arrested. Wikipedia says that property damages exceeded $10 million.
Like Detroit, the effects of these riots can still be felt everyday. Even with recent surges, the population is still only about 2/3 of what it was in the days before the riot.

[tackledspoon]

For Pittsburgh: 1998. The "pizza-bagel" riot, it was called.
It all started when a black woman and a white woman both reached for the last box of pizza bagels in their neighborhood grocers freezer. This certainly was the tipping point for what had been years of building pizza-bagel shortage tensions. 1,000,000 people were killed in the ensuing riot.
This was, of course, dwarfed by the Steelers' Superbowl riot, just eight years later. Jerome Bettis alone destroyed six whole city blocks, while a drunken mob on my street overturned cars, jumped off of tall things and burned couches to beat the motherfucking band.