Some Californians are giving new meaning to the phrase “surfing the web”.
Large-scale rioting in the wake of the George Zimmerman trial verdict failed to materialize as predicted; however, after hosting a national surfing competition this weekend, a California beach town was the site of a small-scale one this weekend.
And it appears social media will be used to follow-up on crime-scene analysis.
Paul Martella of KTLA reports:
Rioting broke out near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street on Sunday evening, but was quelled within a few hours.
The unrest occurred while officers were attempting to disperse crowds following the close of the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing around 5:00 p.m.
The Huntington Beach Police Department requested help from other law-enforcement agencies to help clear the streets, Lt. Mitchell O’Brien said.
The area was declared an unlawful assembly and police moved in to make arrests, according to a Huntington Beach Police Department press release.
There was damage to property, including several portable toilets that were pushed over, witness Francisco Gomez told KTLA.
via LA Times
It looks like the fracas began after someone was hit with a ketchup bottle from a second-story restaurant. The bottle was then thrown into into the crowd, triggering a fight that expanded into a small-scale riot.
Los Angeles Times reporters compiled articles on the riot from social media sources, including the following video:
Reports also note that pepper-spray was used on the crowd:
Some in the crowd coughed and wiped their eyes from the gas police fired to disperse the crowd. Some covered their mouths and noses with shirts.
Photo and videos from the scene show people tearing down city signs, one person dragging a stop sign into the middle of the street and throwing it down in front of police and another man throwing over a barricade.
The local ABC affiliate reports that eight arrests were made for disturbing the peace, unlawful assembly and inciting a riot. One person was held for assault with a deadly weapon on an officer. And, thanks to social media, more arrests may occur:
Police said they will look at video posted on social media and more arrests could be made. Anyone with information was asked to call Huntington Beach police at (714) 375-5066.
Truly, there is never a dull moment in my home state. And some Californians are about to discover that being featured on the internet may bring them the wrong type of notoriety.
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Comments
“There was damage to property, including several portable toilets that were pushed over, witness Francisco Gomez told KTLA.”
It seems very sad to me that people reduce themselves to the level of waste in need of disposal at times. Ironic in this case indeed.
Nothing like living in a beach town!
For the next time, don’t supply the toilets.
We had the Lost Generation,
The Wookstock Generation,
And now the Loser Genertion.
Oh we’ll, at least they didn’t rob any jewelry or electronics stores…
Knocking over Porta Potties, it’s the new “We Shall Overcome”?
A surftastic time was had by all!
Time to unroll the fire hoses and chill these idiots out.
Sort of a dumb observation but the guy pictured shoving the STOP sign through the window looks like he’s going after his mannequin doppleganger.
Nihilism has its own reward.
They told us how the crowd dealt with pepper spray, but not a word about how those in the Porta Potties dealt with their stink.
There’s a ‘riot” in Huntington Beach every 10 years or so, usually associated with some surfing event or other and about this time of year. Mainly just kids screwing around. This is junior high school stuff compared to the post graduate political violence in places like Oakland CA.
the “political violence” in oakland consisted of breaking a couple of windows and a little spray-painting. i’m certainly not condoning the vandalism but it really wasn’t all that horrific.
I hope that crowd also decides to boycott Florida.
This is what those 1.6 billion DHS bullets are for.
Oh great, drunken surf punks. A laugh a minute.
If you watch the videos you will see people of all races and backgrounds working together in harmony to knock over some porta potties and steal a beach cruiser.
At one point a group stops to smoke some weed… and they get all riled up again. Weed these days is not the laid back and eat some cookies stuff. The various strains that have been developed can agitate people, (see Zimmerman case)
Send the cops in with pick handles instead of batons. Break some legs. Break some heads. Then arrest those with broken bones for rioting and throw them in jail for a couple of years. That will cool their jets.
As a conservative living in this state you never know what kind madness will suddenly infect the masses. When people here start rioting after surfing competitions for no apparent reason, the future isn’t looking so bright.
http://bluecollarphilosophy.com/2013/07/28872/
You never know when you will find yourself in a flash mob around here these days. Detroit is the first major city to go belly up, but California may be the first state. Maybe a massive earthquake will save it so Obama can send emergency funds to bail us out?
Isn’t port-a-potty tipping something 12 year olds do? I’m not sure this rises to the level of rioting. More people were filming it on their cell phones than participating in the “riot.” Now the riots after the Rodney King verdict, that was a Riot.