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Riots

Riots In India During Trump’s Visit Expose Brutal Nature Of Indian Ruling Class

March 7, 2020 Adam Pal, Marxist.com , ,
Trump's visit to India on 24-25 February saw deadly riots in Delhi in which at least 46 people were killed, while hundreds were injured. Many houses, shops and religious buildings were burnt or destroyed in northeast Delhi during these riots, which continued for more than four days. The violence, spearheaded by the Modi government, started after goons were unleashed...

50 Years Since The Kerner Commission Report

March 6, 2018 Tom Mackaman, Wsws.org , ,
Fifty years ago this week, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders issued its report on the wave of “race riots” that had swept the United States beginning in the early 1960s. Established by President Johnson in the midst of the massive Detroit riot of 1967, the Kerner Commission, as it was called after its chairman, Illinois Democratic Governor Otto Kerner, was assigned the task of uncovering the causes of the riots and proposing remedies. The resulting 426-page report, released on February 29, 1968, portrayed devastating conditions in the cities. It found that the riots were not the outcome of “outside agitators” as Johnson had speculated. They instead arose from a lack of good jobs, overcrowded neighborhoods, substandard housing, poor educational opportunities, and especially police harassment and violence, which had very often provided the trigger for riots.

‘Violence’ Becomes ‘Unruliness’ When It’s Sports Fans, Not BLM Protesters

February 7, 2018 Eoin Higgins, Fair.org , , ,
After the Philadelphia Eagles mounted an exciting and improbable underdog victory over the New England Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday, Philly fans poured into the city’s streets to celebrate. Fires were set, some stores were broken into, and drunk people fought and caroused across the city. Crowds of (overwhelmingly) white male fans climbed poles, leapt off of building awnings, uprooted lamp posts and generally caused mayhem and havoc across the City of Brotherly Love. The celebration ended Monday morning with only four arrests, and with what NBC Sports (2/5/18) described vaguely as “vandalism and injuries.” The muted reaction from city officials to the unrest was noted by a number of media outlets on Monday morning. Newsweek(2/5/18) noted “the difference in how the public and officials reacted to riots by fans compared to those prompted by civil unrest.”

#DisruptJ20 Protester Receives Prison Sentence For Felony Rioting

July 8, 2017 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us , ,
By Anne Meador for DC Media Group - A judge sentenced a man who broke windows and threw rocks at police officers during Inauguration Day protests to 36 months in prison for each of two counts, all but 4 months suspended. Dane Powell, 31, who participated in an “anti-fascist march” on January 20, accepted a government deal in late April in which he pleaded guilty to two charges, felony rioting and felony assault on police officers. In addition to the prison sentence, DC Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz imposed two years supervised probation and three years supervised release. Powell was among over two hundred people arrested related to #DisruptJ20 protests on the day of President Trump’s inauguration in downtown Washington, DC. Most of those arrested and charged that day, including journalists and bystanders, were indiscriminately rounded up by police. Powell, however, was arrested the following day after he was identified by police standing outside the courthouse while waiting for other protesters to be released. In January, he was charged with six offenses, including three counts of assault on a police officer, destruction of property and felony rioting. In April, he was hit with additional charges in a superseding indictment, including conspiracy to riot. The seriousness of the charges could have resulted in decades in prison. Powell accepted a plea deal on April 28.

Inequality Is The Real Backstory To Sweden’s Riots

March 4, 2017 George Lakey, www.wagingnonviolence.org , ,
By George Lakey for Waging Nonviolence - Mohandas Gandhi famously said that the root of violence is inequality. His view helps us understand what’s behind the headlines about recent rioting in immigrant neighborhoods in Sweden. No one was killed, although one police officer did actually shoot at a rioter — an exception to Swedish police policy. Over the four nights of rioting in the vicinity of Stockholm, a restaurant was burned down, more than 30 cars were set on fire and police were attacked. Rioters damaged stores, schools, and even an arts and crafts center. According to the Guardian, the immediate trigger for the riots seems to have been the police killing of a 69-year-old man wielding a machete in the suburb of Husby...

Felony Riot Charges Against Trump Inauguration Protesters

January 23, 2017 Sarah Lazare, www.alternet.org , , ,
By Sarah Lazare for AlterNet - More than 200 people who were mass-arrested at the Washington, D.C. protests against the inauguration of Donald Trump have been hit with felony riot charges that are punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Those picked up in the sweep—including legal observers and journalists—had their phones, cameras and other personal belongings confiscated as evidence, a lawyer confirmed to AlterNet. Demonstrators warn that the crackdown signals a new wave of repression against the protesters, whose mass mobilization was met with riot police violence, National Guard and Department of Homeland Security deployments, heavy surveillance and law enforcement snipers positioned on rooftops.

The Riots Will Continue

September 24, 2016 Vincent Emanuele, www.counterpunch.org ,
By Vincent Emanuele for Counter Punch - In 1917, white supremacists, the National Guard and the St. Louis Police killed an estimated 150-200 blacks in what is commonly referred to as the “East St. Louis Massacre.” Much like St. Louis, Chicago was an up-and-coming industrial city that was experiencing massive demographic shifts as a result of the “Great Migration” north at the beginning of the 20th century. Similarly, Chicago experienced its own race riots in 1919, where 38 people were killed and 500 injured.

Flint The Stage Is Set For Riots

June 6, 2016 Justin King, www.thefifthcolumnnews.com ,
By Justin King for TFC - Flint, Michigan (TFC) – The United States has seen more than its fair share of riots over the last couple of years. Many like to see riots as spontaneous events that are completely unpredictable; and some forms of riots are, such as those after sporting events. Most, however, are very predictable. Certain conditions need to be in place before an inciting event can trigger a riot. The reason the United States is seeing more and more riots is because the conditions are prevalent in more and more communities.

“We Are Those Lions”: 5 Strikes & Riots That Shook Modern Britain

May 29, 2016 Bahar Mustafa, www.versobooks.com , ,
By Bahar Mustafa for Verso Books. Joshua Clover’s Riot. Strike. Riot proclaims that ours has become an “age of riots” as the struggle of people versus state and capital has taken to the streets. Rioting was the central form of protest in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and was supplanted by the strike in the early nineteenth century. It returned to prominence in the 1970s, profoundly changed along with the coordinates of race and class. From early wage demands to recent social justice campaigns pursued through occupations and blockades, Clover connects these protests to the upheavals of a sclerotic economy in a state of moral collapse. Historical events such as the global economic crisis of 1973 and thedecline of organized labour, viewed from the perspective of vast social transformations, are the proper context for understanding these eruptions of discontent. As social unrest against an unsustainable order continues to grow, this valuable history will help guide future antagonists in their struggles toward a revolutionary horizon. To honour some of the great feats of working class collective power, we have collated a list of some of the most significant strikes and riots that Britain has seen since the turn of the century.

Anarchist Prisoner’s Hunger Strike Sparks Riots In Athens

December 4, 2014 Parthena Xanthopoulou-Dimitriadou, www.roarmag.org , , , ,
Yesterday, demonstrations in solidarity with the Greek anarchist Nikos Romanos — who has been on hunger strike for 24 days to demand his right to educational furlough — were called in big cities and islands across Greece. In Athens, more than 10.000 people marched, proving that no one is to be left alone in front of the vengeful fury of the state. Once again, however, it was confirmed that, when the twisted justifications of the repressive state don’t work, the batons of the police are ready to do the job. The demonstration started at Monastiraki and arrived at Syntagma Square, where Syrian refugees have been camping out for 15 days to demand state recognition of their political refugee status. Until its end, the march was followed by heavy police forces.
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