Riots often occur in reaction to a perceived grievance or out of dissent. Riots may be the outcome of a sporting event, although many riots have occurred due to poor working or living conditions, government oppression, conflicts between races or religions.
Rapid urbanization has led to the rise of urban riots, often inner city. John F. McDonald and Daniel P. McMillen have identified Los Angeles's Watts Riots, in 1965, as the first "urban riots" in the United States. They were a part of what were known as race riots of the civil rights period. These riots in particular culminated in 1968–1969. The analyses of urban riots in terms of urban conditions influenced the emerging field of urban economics in the 1960s.[1]
Riots have occurred before the rapid urbanization starting in the mid-20th Century, hence the occurrence of riots in urban areas in itself is not special. While a riot may be initially sparked by a specific event, scholars, commentators and commissions have sought to identify the deeper reasons and have identified a number of urban conditions that may underline urban riots. These urban conditions are often associated with urban decay more generally and may include: discrimination, poverty, high unemployment, poor schools, poor healthcare, housing inadequacy and police brutality and bias.[1]
List of urban riots
This is a list of riots that have occurred, mostly in the United States and the UK, in the context of urban conditions and more broadly urban decay.
13–16 July 1863, Lower Manhattan, New York City, US. Riots carried out by members of the white working class, predominantly protesting against draft laws passed that year in the context of the American Civil War, but also against perspectives of mixed race neighborhoods.
21 February 1909, South Omaha, Nebraska, US. During a period of economic downturn in the city, a successful community of Greeks in Omaha, Nebraska was burnt to the ground by a mob from Omaha. This happened after they almost lynched a Greek immigrant accused of having sex with a Protestant woman. A federal trial brought by the Greek consul to the United States ends in stagnation. No person is ever convicted.
27 July-2 August 1919 Chicago, IL, US. An African American teenager, Eugene Williams, who was swimming in Lake Michigan drifted near a beach that whites considered their own. A white man on a breakwater assailed the black youth with stones and the youth drowned. The white Chicago police officers who investigated the incident refused to arrest the assailant. The tension escalated into riots between blacks and whites. The Governor of Illinois, Frank Lowden, called in the Illinois National Guard to quell the unrest, but at least 38 people were killed and 500 injured over a period of seven days.[3][4]
5 July 1966, North Omaha, Nebraska, US, More than 500 black youth gathered to protest the absence of recreation programs and jobs storm a local business district, throwing rocks and bricks at Jewish-owned businesses in the area. The National Guard is called in after three days of random violence and organized raids.[9]
12 July 1967, Newark, New Jersey, US, Factors that contributed to the Newark Riot: police brutality, political exclusion of blacks from city government, urban renewal, inadequate housing, unemployment, poverty, and rapid change in the racial composition of neighborhoods.[10]
23 July 1967, Detroit, Michigan, US, The origins of urban unrest in Detroit were rooted in a multitude of political, economic, and social factors including police abuse, lack of affordable housing, urban renewal projects, economic inequality, black militancy, and rapid demographic change.[11]
4 April 1968, Washington, D.C., US, A report from National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders identified discrimination and poverty as the root causes of the riots that erupted in cities around the nation during the late 1960s and in Washington, DC in April 1968[12]
23 July 1968, Cleveland, Ohio, US, Shootout between black militant organization led by Ahmed Evans and Cleveland Police Department attracted large and hostile black crowds that caused a four-day riot
24 June 1969, North Omaha, Nebraska US, An Omaha police officer fatally shoots a teenager in the back of the head during a gathering of youth in local public housing projects. Many youth and adults from the local African American community gather in the local business district, routinely burning and otherwise destroying non-Black-owned businesses.[13]
August 24, 1970, Royal Oak, MI, US. A civil disturbance by alienated white youths that began in Royal Oak, Michigan, and spread to Birmingham, Michigan, both primarily white middle class suburbs of Detroit. The initial conflict resulted from the closure by police of Memorial Park in Royal Oak. Authorities said that the park was being used as a marketplace for the sale of illegal drugs. The riot lasted for three days, and led to the formation of several youth controlled social service organizations.
13 December 1995, London, England, Alex Owolade, chairman of the anti-racist group Movement for Justice, said the violence was a rebellion against years of "racist injustice" by police in an impoverished area plagued by racial tension.[22]
10 April 2001, Cincinnati, Ohio, US, An Enquirer reporter, Kristina Goetz, reported that the lack of progress on perennial inner-city problems such as inadequate child and health care, failing schools, and low rates of minority home ownership was a contributing factor.[24]
22 October 2005, Birmingham, England, Many white and more affluent African-Caribbean residents have moved out of Birmingham, signaling a rapid change in the racial composition of neighborhoods.[27]
From 23 February 2014, initially in Hrushevskoho Street, Kyiv, Ukraine, 12 anti-protest laws were repealed and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov tendered his resignation and a bill offering amnesty to arrested and charged protesters was issued.
Protests began after the death of Freddie Gray on 12 April 2015. Protests escalated to violence, looting, and arson on the day of Gray's funeral Monday 27 April 2015.
