San Bernardino punk riot
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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 white youth during the concert. Tensions had been growing over the course of the event between Nazi skinheads and overwhelmingly anti-racist punks. Numerous videos of the incident were recorded and placed on the the website youtube.com. One of which show police milling about the sedate crowd. Another shows a group of approximately 200 attendees chanting "FUCK WHITE POWER!". Though reports of numerous fights breaking out were indicated by the police, many event attendees believe this was an attempt to cast a black cloud on the underground punk movement and have been unfounded.
Tear gas was used by police in an apparent attempt to disperse the crowd. Many attendees, including many children were taken by surprise by the sudden cloud of noxious gas that had begun to inundate the inside of the venue. Attendees within the arena itself were completely unaware of the events taking place outside but were forced to flee the venue, hours before it's scheduled conclusion. Many attendees who were driven to the event by parents were unable to disperse the property as demanded by the police and were forced into the surrounding neighborhood.
Some attendees, who had spent $60.00 for tickets to the event became angry and began attacking 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.
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.
Estimates at the cost of the riot are as high as 500,000 dollars.
The concert had been set to feature several popular punk rock groups such as The Adicts, Charged GBH, Vice Squad and Broken Bones.
