San Bernardino punk riot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The San Bernardino punk riot occurred on March 4, 2006 after a popular punk rock festival entitled the British Invasion 2k6 in San Bernardino, California was shut down early due to the stabbing of a youth during the concert, possibly in the concert moshpit. The disturbance that led to the stabbing was reportedly caused by a group of youths advocating white power and making racist remarks to many of the concert-goers. In an apparent attempt to disperse the agitated crowd outside the venue, police used tear gas, releasing it not only at the site of the disturbance but also inside the venue itself where no disturbance had occurred, catching many concert-goers unawares. Some attendees became angry and destroyed several police cars outside the venue. Helicopters and riot police were called in and the crowd moved out of the parking lot and into San Bernardino. Estimates put the crowd at 1,500 fans who then began vandalizing local businesses and parked cars in the downtown area. Dumpsters were set on fire and several shops were broken into while dozens more were damaged. Many attendees who were driven to the event by parents were unable to disperse as demanded by the police and were subsequently forced into the surrounding neighborhoods.^[1]

Nearly 200 police were called in to quell the riot which lasted several hours. At least four officers were injured and two concert-goers were hospitalized, one of them being the stabbing victim. The police made over a dozen arrests. The riot caused an estimated $500K in damages.^[2]