Riot

A riot is a type of illegal civil unrest that leads to collective violence. Often, these assemblies devolve into violent encounters with police or military forces, making them unlawful and grounds for arrest. The broad definition of riots encompasses acts like strikes, gang-related activity, and political activism.

Most riots are not premeditated, which shows how mob mentality can create violent outbursts. These encounters happen mostly in urban areas. Some historically significant riots revolved around food shortages, civil rights violations, and political issues. Most modern legislation regarding riots use language about breaching the peace to prosecute individuals, but the crime is only considered a misdemeanor.

Background

Socially, riots have been described as ways for large groups of people to gain emotional release. Riots are not formally planned or premeditated, though there is a tendency for angry assemblies of people to turn violent. Legislation in most countries categorize riots as illegal social assemblies meant to disturb the peace. Participants or like-minded witnesses regard these violent encounters as legitimate ways to gain attention for a particular issue or cause.

The underlying reasons for riots have not been officially quantified. Debate still exists regarding the reasons why legal peaceful protests can turn into riots. The most popular theory is mob mentality. When a large group of people come together, unified by a similar issue or cause, inhibitions are lowered; people feel invisible within crowds, and they are more willing to engage in activities they would never otherwise participate in. Triggering the first act of violence, whether this involves breaking a window or engaging with police, leads to a domino effect of additional assaults. The longer these activities continue, the less the violence relates to the initial reason for assembly. Long-term riots often involve people looting and destroying property.

Throughout history, there have also been instances of government agents or police officers infiltrating peaceful protests and provoking crowds into criminal behavior in order to justify a forceful government response; in these situations, someone tasked with deliberately encouraging this behavior is referred to as an agent provocateur, or someone who incites others into committing crimes. During the 1960s, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was known to infiltrate protests against the Vietnam War using agents provocateurs.

Food shortages usually lead to unintentional riots; the increased number of hungry people decreases personal restraint and willingness to comply with raised prices. In 1775 in France, a series of riots later dubbed the Flour War was a precursor to the French Revolution (1789–99). At the time, a lack of grain added with the inflated price of bread meant many people in the country went hungry. This eventually led to violence.

Between 1836 and 1837, flour prices in New York City rose from $7 to $12, creating a panic that there would no longer be any bread available. A group of protestors quickly turned into a mob, looting a local flour company and destroying more than four hundred barrels of flour. Although the destruction was limited, New York City officials grew concerned due to the sudden influx of protestors in such a short time. Penny presses further inflamed tensions by spreading rumors in inexpensive newspapers.

Riots also stem from civil rights violations. A particular community of people, whether they are racially or socially motivated, may feel oppressed by certain social structures in the government or discriminatory police behavior and engage in violent outbursts. On July 23, 1967, Detroit, Michigan, experienced one of the deadliest riots in modern US history. The city's Black community felt the city government failed to meet their basic needs, such as providing sanitary living conditions and economic opportunities, addressing racial segregation, and preventing police violence against Black people. This community's frustration with systemic racism and injustice eventually escalated into a riot which left forty-three people dead.

In another notable riot which stemmed from civil rights violations, on June 28, 1969, members of the LGBTQ+ community in New York City rioted after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar and institution of the city's LGBTQ+ community. The arrest of thirteen patrons and the police abuse of many others angered many people. This sparked six days' worth of riots and clashes with the police.

Political issues can quickly induce riots for particular groups of people. In 1987, the Palestinian riots known as the intifada, or "shaking off," began after a car crash killed four and wounded ten Palestinians. The crash showed the Israeli driver to be at fault, instigating a series of riots. What started as a protest of Israeli treatment of Palestinians quickly turned into full-scale violence, which included rocks and Molotov cocktails being thrown at Israeli riot police.

Topic Today

Modern legislation concerning riots varies depending on the country and culture. Riot sentences in the United States, United Kingdom, and India are usually light, as the crime is only a misdemeanor. However, there are cases where the sentence is increased. In the United Kingdom, if the riot barred public officials from doing their duties or harmed them while they were completing their duties, the perpetrator would be violating public authority. French law does not officially recognize riots; they are considered resistances to public authority. Legislation in France addresses riots under the umbrella term rebellion. Some civil rights activists have suggested this term be more widely adopted to refer to certain riots in other countries, due to the negative connotations around the term "riot" and the underlying social injustices that often lead to riots occurring.

In the twenty-first century, riots continue to surround civil and political issues and food shortages. However, some riots also revolve around sports. In 2011, Pennsylvania State University fired Joseph Paterno, the head coach of the Nittany Lions football team. Students of the university lashed out in response, arguing that the media and administrators overexaggerated Paterno's involvement in covering up the scandal surrounding assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children. During the riot, participants broke the windows of multiple businesses and flipped a news van covering the university's response.

In 2014, Chinese media reported the deaths of forty rioters, six bystanders, and four police officers after a riot in the Xinjiang region. The territory is home to a group of Turkic Muslims, known colloquially as Uyghurs, who by that point had faced decades of repression from the Chinese government. Violence between the Uyghurs and the Chinese escalated in subsequent years. For example, an attack in July 2014 during the holy month of Ramadan killed almost one hundred people. Meanwhile, government repression of the Uyghur community in China became severe enough by the 2020s for many observers to label the Chinese government's actions as a genocide.

After a Black man named Freddie Gray died while in police custody, members of the African American community in Baltimore, Maryland, began a series of protests, some of which escalated into riots. The city declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard to help settle the violence. Although the riots started as legal protests, anger within the community led to general destruction and looting. The 2015 Baltimore Riots came soon after similar episodes erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, following the death of Michael Brown, an African American man who was shot and killed by a police officer.

In subsequent years, many peaceful protests were staged, including by Black Lives Matter activists, in cities across the United States after a Black man, George Floyd, was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 2020. As some of the protests ended up involving destruction of property, including the burning of a Minneapolis police precinct, a debate ensued about the issues behind such actions and frustrations as well as whether they should be condemned or even considered riots in the face of the message activists hoped to convey.

Another notable riot in the US during this time period occurred on January 6, 2021, when a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump, who had recently lost the 2020 US presidential election to Democratic candidate Joe Biden, stormed the US Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to overturn the results of the election. The attack heightened fears of further politically motivated unrest in the US and generated intense discussion, along with a congressional investigation, over the role Trump had in instigating the attack. By mid-2023, over a thousand individuals faced criminal charges related to the events of January 6, one of the largest numbers of people prosecuted in connection to a single event in modern US history.

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