You riotous bastages.  

Not yet but if things don't turn around pretty soon in NJ that will change.

FNJ

F Filthy Phil

I've seen a little on TV.

In about 4-5.

One time I got caught between a fat couple and the entrance of a Golden Corral. Does that count?

In a few .

Sean bell trial was kind of crazy.

I was in one in the 70s as a cop. One bad guy shot dead during the riot. I was the only officer to testify in a grand jury. I was on a call at a nationwide fast food hamburger place where youths gathered every night, bought a soda and parked in the lot for hours, taking up all the spaces for new customers. The manager said the youths could stay IF they bought more food and then left after it was consumed, but he did not want them hanging out in the lot driving customers away.

I had to go back every night for about a week. It reminded me about being a kid, and hanging out with my friends. I told the kids about the rules, and after about 3 or 4 minutes of acting tough in front of their girl friends, they left. Next night was a repeat of the previous night. Bought a drink, parked in the lot, and stayed there. This went on for about a week. There were about 50 youths, and as long as they left, when they were asked, it was not a problem. I usually went there with out a backup because there was no sign of any violence, no one ever got in my face, they all knew my name, and treated me with respect when they found out I was not a hard ass.

One night they were told to leave and one 14 year old female youth refused to leave. The other youths tried to get her in a car and she resisted them. She ran at me and pushed me hard in the chest, and I knew I had to arrest her. When I put her in an arm lock, I was attacked by some youths. A K9 unit was pulling into the lot to check on me. Someone called the department and said we were in trouble, and 4 different agencies responded.

More and more youths started turning up and more and more cops keep showing up. It spilled out into the street and the fighting covered 5 lanes of traffic. One of the youths started his truck and tried to run over a cop and one of the cops shot through the back of the cab and killed the driver.

I am guessing there were about 250 youths and 50 cops. The fighting stopped when the shooting started and all the bad guys left. Some were arrested and jailed. The fighting lasted about half an hour but it seemed like it lasted for ever. Crime scene was 5 lanes wide by about eighth mile long.


I was the only officer to testify in the grand jury. They no-billed the officer who shot the bad guy, however the federal justice dept found he violated the civil rights of the bad guy. He was fired by his agency, his wife left him, and it probably ruined his life in a professional way.

I played this over and over, what could I have done better. I was happy that I was not a hard ass with the youths. There was some sense of respect developing between me,
and them. They even tried to get the girl in the car and she destroyed what respect we were building. Those youths knew I was doing my job, not being a hard ass. They were being respectful to me while still showing their machismo to their girl friends.

Madison,WI spring and summer of '70 a couple of blocks away from Sterling Hall.
Riots in Frankfurt Germany in 68
On going race war in Vietnam 69
Anti American riots in Panama 55

I also was in one in another country, but I did resemble the locals as long as I didn't smile, utter sounds etc., oh, I did have the stupid GI haircut.
This was back in 1982, so I don't have fresh memories, but I do remember somebody using the phrasing "thanks for volunteering," or words to that effect. No idea what that guy was talking about, but I digress...

It was simple in planning: go to the big Plaza where a civil disturbance was anticipated and see if you recognize these individuals. If you see at least one, come back and report. Simple.

The execution of such a simple plan, though, sucked balls, big hairy sweaty ones, the kind you might find on wild animals, for example.
Anyway, I had only seen the riots on TV up to this point in my life. On one side there was the gov't forces side; then, opposing them was everybody else that had a team. Rioting is a team sport. I don't know if they cover that in school.

What I was expecting, was how I saw a typical American riot on TV. Police in lines, revolutionaries in lines opposing them, both sides dwarfed by spectators aka innocent bystanders.

In Europe, if you show up at the appointed time, you're involved, period. My biggest fear was not that I would be killed or beaten up, per se, but that some people would figure out I was an American, then it would be EVERYBODY against me. I wasn't going to last too long at that point, and your humble correspondent wouldn't be here to share this observation: American riots aren't that bad compared to the rest of the World.

I was enrolled in the Syracuse University Electrical Engineering program and was on campus during a huge Vietnam War protest that turned into a riot.
Hippies set fire to the new Engineering Building. They were building barricades at choke points on campus to impede police response.
I was enjoying the spectacle of the burning building when an agitated hippy ran up to me and the other spectators warning us that the campus was crisscrossed with gas lines and we were all gonna be blowed up. Much laughter ensued.
Those of us with lives hit the road shortly thereafter when the real cops showed up in riot gear and started tossing tear gas into the crowd. They had long riot batons, as I recall, and were itching to use them.
Hippies stayed at their barricades to toss bottles at the cops and get their heads busted.
Good times.

Was in New Orleans for a month following Katrina.
good times....

Did you go to WVU in the early 2000's?

Yes a couple in DC.  World Bank/IMF 2000 was a doozy.

Freakniks. All of them.

Disco Demolition Night - 1979

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1CP1751wJA

Things got interesting for us around the 7:20 mark.

2013 timeframe, yes. I cant remember all the specific circumstances as to what led to it, but I vividly remember being in slow moving traffic on the highway when the BLM group and some other protesting group decided to start blocking traffic. Surrounding peoples cars, smashing windows, doing the normal violent things that violent protesters do. At one point my car had 15-20 individuals standing around it and at least one or two of them pounding on windows. Made me realize pretty quickly that 16 rounds in a G19 may or may not get you very far in that situation...

Well, I was in L.A. during both the Watts Riots and the L.A. Riots. But the closest I got was seeing "rowdy-looking youths" on Lincoln Blvd. during the L.A. Riots. It was a totally convenient, drive-in rioting experience.

Yes....In a close custody prison housing unit.

It kicked off one morning a little past 8AM...It had been tense already because of rival gang activity, and when you went in the pod, it was dead silent...Always a giveaway that something's up.

A young 100 lb  23 year old nurse was handing medication through a pie flap and an inmate grabbed her arm and snapped radius and ulna.

A code was called and I was the second one in the unit...I was a Sgt. at the time, but when I went in, I saw the STG Sgt. wrestling with an inmate and another 125 inmates in the open pod standing and watching.

I went over pulled mace and moved the other inmates away.

For about 20 minutes it was a total free-for-all and I ended up with busted knuckles and had to have a blood test later.

They later went to tier management, which only allowed one tier out at a time.

So, yeah...

Yes, Up rising and Coup D'etat in the Philippines back in the 80's.

Nope.

I avoid riots as a general rule of thumb, so no.

Nobody needs that many bullets

Riot .


Yes .





gd

I got caught up in the OP Pro surf comp riot in Huntington  Beach when I was 16, but that was all about bikinis and beer.

To busy working

Just the one that I may have inadvertently started.


There was a huge crowd of people in the the streets of the university housing area after a big game.  Everyone is drinking beer, there's a bonfire going in the middle of the street, people are dancing, laughing and having fun.  The police are there watching to make sure it doesn't get out of hand.  I noticed a policeman in a second story window of a house video taping the proceedings.  I tried to mention it to one of my friends, but the crowd was pretty loud.

"What?"

"There's a cop videotaping us from the window."

"Where?"

"Right there." [pointing]

He told another of our friends, and physically pointed it out. A few other people in front of us also started pointing.  Then from somewhere in the crowd behind us, a beer bottle goes sailing through the air, and it hits the siding next to the window with the officer in it.  You could see him flinch, and then frantically search for the perpetrator with his camera.  Then another beer bottle goes flying and connects with the window shattering it.

Next thing I know, beer bottles are sailing through the air smashing out of all of the windows in that house.  There is a brief pause as the crowd collectively thinks, "I guess that's all of the win . . . oh, wait there are other houses with windows."

Somewhere in the middle of the third house being pelted with beer bottles, the occupant of one of the houses comes out.  Yells, "Who fucking did that?" and then apparently decides it was the first guy he saw, and he runs straight into the crowd swinging his fists.  

That's when things really took off, including yours truly.  Yep, time to get the fuck out of dodge.

Just to be clear, it wasn't my intent to start anything. I threw nothing and I left as soon as things went haywire, which also happened to coincide with the loss of my curiosity regarding the event.

Got caught up in a riot in Columbus, OH many years ago. Wasn't huge but several blocks around where I work. Drove like a mofo right out of it, gun on lap swearing I'd mow people over rather than get Reginald Denny'd.

Cedar Village Apartments, East Lansing Michigan in the 80s.

Halloween.

Went to jail that night too.

Long story.

I have been engulfed twice by large scale fighting. The first time in junior high, approximately 20 combatants. Shortly thereafter my Dad and Uncle took us to a high school football game that ended with 60+/- people fighting, throwing rocks and bottles etc. We were traveling across the parking lot to leave when it erupted.

This was around 1970 to 1972 and racial tensions were still high after the events of the 60's. Neither one of these events grew past the original fight scene or affected the surrounding community. The dirt road that ran past my junior high was a dumping ground for several murder victims and drug OD's. It was one block north of the worst housing project in the city.

When these things happen there is very little warning. Only the instigators are aware of the plan, sometimes there isn't any plan at all, it just breaks out and expands like a wildfire. I have watched several of these events involving dozens of combatants and malicious destruction of property from the safety of my classroom. Drop outs and truants wreaking destruction in the student parking lots.

The best thing to do in a situation like this is to get away from the action as quickly as possible. Angry mobs have no conscience and once you are engulfed in it you become fair game.

Cousin in LA called me spring of '92 asking me how to load his "pistol". Me - "Why?". "Havnt you been watching TV!?!" I hadn't.

He was panicked, couldn't identify it "Its black and silver. It says its made in Portugal. No wait Utah. Fuck I dont have my glasses" - and he was pulling the trigger "Wait what!!!" and nothing was happening (thankfully)

Jesu, I had no idea - "Get the fuck out of wherever you are dude I'm not even sure you have the right ammo."

"I'm at the store and I AM NOT leaving".

He's lucky he didnt shoot himself or one of his employees, but they had all scooted. Later turns out it was a Hi-Power he bought since it was "pretty".

He coulda done worse for the right reasons, even if he'd got it into action not sure it woulda helped, but middle of a riot is not the time to skill up.

Ozzfest at Alpine Valley early 2000's.
Sod missiles raining down from everywhere.
I barely made it out.

Our's wasn't b/c of basketball, but the cops shut down a few house parties at the same time on a big party weekend.

Lot's of out of towners and non-university students usually showed up and caused the problems with parties getting shut down and then those crowds walking to the bar district.

Yes, Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta during the King riots. Buildings were locked down, couldn't go in or out, drive away so whitey was told to shelter in place. Most of us that were stuck outside hunkered down on the backseat floorboards of our povs.

My aunt lived in Detroit during the riots in 1967.  She and her husband paint Soul Brother's (which they were not) on the windows of their restaurant.  The rioters spare their business, however the entire block was burned down and she always showed photos how the rioters were animals.  Her husband was armed with a hunting rifle and he felt under armed.  When he first saw an M1 carbine for sale after the incident, he snatched it up.  After that incident, she became racist towards certain people to the end of her days.

I accidentally/inadvertently started one involving about 150 people back in like 06' or 07'. I have some interesting VHS film of it from a helicopter that responded. I should try and get someone to convert it to digital someday. It was just me and one other guy for about 10 minutes. Which doesn't sound like long, but it seemed a lot longer. I also could not hear my radio to know that people were coming to help because of how loud the rotor wash was from the helo getting so low above me.

Years and years ago, my buddy and I were in Canada for a Backcountry trip.
What we didn't know was that there was some kind of trucker's strike or unrest of some kind.
Trying to come back over the border, we had to weave through some very pissed off people and burning trucks.

It was like driving through a movie set. Like it wasn't even real.
That's the closest I've ever come to a riot type situation.

Good times that...

January 1985, my ship(USS Waddell DDG-24) was in San Francisco for the Super Bowl.  After the game, I got caught up in the post-game riot, trying to make my way back to the ship.  Saw alot of drunk people, a bus burning, and police riot formation.

In 1992, I worked in Playa Vista (Los Angeles) and lived about 40 miles northwest of there.  On the night of the 29th, I watched the rioting on TV and could smell the smoke from my house.

I had to work on April 29 and 30.  I could see and smell smoke from big fires all day on the 30th.  I heard rumors of nearby violence all day.  Around 1 PM on April 30, Mayor Bradley told everyone in Los Angeles to stop work and go home.  My boss demanded that I continue to work until 4 PM.  He lived about 1 mile away.

It usually took me about 1.5 hous to get home.  That night it was over 3.5 hours, since everybody was trying to leave at once.

As I was stuck in traffic, I could see lots of smoke, some fires and some minor violence.

A few lessons that I learned:
- Never assume that you will be able to buy guns or ammo when you need them.  Always have them available for an emergency.  When things get bad, you may need them very suddenly.
- Politicians will always do what they think will get them votes.  They do not care about what is right and wrong at all.
- Most police will do what the politicians tell them to do.  Their careers are more important than what is right and wrong.
- Major disturbances can change rapidly and are very unpredictable.  Find a secure area or get far away as soon as possible.

I don't think that most rioters cared about Rodney King.  It was just an opportunity to get free stuff and the police did not stop them because they were scared or because they didn't want to make peoople unhappy.

1/20/20

Roxbury in 67/68.

Woodstock 99

A buddy and I got stuck there when shit went sideways. We couldnt get to the car and even if we could there was no way out of the parking area. It was sometime in the late afternoon the next day when we finaaly able to leave

Every all nighter (Country&Western or R&B) at the Ramstein Air Base NCO Club from 1994 to 2000....

I was in downtown WPB during the Bush/Gore recount. There were only a hand full of conservatives (maybe 10) there among throngs of liberals. I wanted to see the recount because they were doing it in a windowed room where you could watch. I got bounced around pretty bad in the crowd. A couple of our bigger guys came over to stand on either side of me to help me.

Jesse Jackson was supposed to speak but wouldn't come out because he was scared of us (our little group of conservatives) Freaking rabble-rouser.

If that happened today I would not do it. It seems like attacking/robbing/sucker punching people is much more prevalent and no one bats an eye.