Urban riots

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 urbanisation has led to the rise of urban riots, often inner city. John F. McDonald and Daniel P. McMillen have identified the Watts Riots, Los Angeles, 1965, as the first "urban riots" in the US. The analyses of urban riots in terms of urban conditions influenced the emerging field of urban economics in the 1960s.

Causes of Urban Riots
Riots have occurred before the rapid urbanisation 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 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.

List of Urban Riots
This is a list of riots that have occurred in the context of urban conditions and more broadly urban decay.

Pre-1960s

 * 1909 Greek Town Riot: 21 February 1909, South Omaha, Nebraska, USA. 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.


 * 1917 East Saint Louis, IL.: July, 1917, East Saint Louis, IL, USA.


 * 1919 Chicago Race Riot: 27 July-2 August 1919 Chicago, IL, USA. An African American teenager 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 black youth drowned.  The white 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.


 * 1921 Tulsa Race Riots: 31 May-1 June 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.


 * 1935 Harlem Riot: 19 March 1935, New York City, USA


 * 1958 Notting Hill race riots:late August and early September 1958, London, UK

1960s

 * Rochester 1964 race riot: 24–26 July 1964


 * Cypriot intercommunal violence: 1963-1964. Major riots in the cities of Nicosia, Famagusta and Larnaca led to the division of Cyprus, and its two communities, the Turkish and Greek Cypriots.


 * Philadelphia 1964 race riot: 28–30 August 1964, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Allegations of police brutality sparked the Columbia Avenue race riots.


 * Watts Riots: 11 August 1965, Los Angeles, California, USA, The McCone Commission investigated the riots finding that causes included poverty, inequality, racial discrimination and the passage, in November 1964, of Proposition 14 on the California ballot overturning the Rumford Fair Housing Act, which established equality of opportunity for black home buyers.


 * Hough Riots: 18 July 1966, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, The underlying causes of the riots may found in the social conditions that exist in the ghettos of Cleveland.


 * Racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska: 5 July 1966, North Omaha, Nebraska, USA, 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.


 * 1967 Newark riots: 12 July 1967, Newark, New Jersey, USA, 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.


 * 1967 Plainfield riots: 14 July 1967, Plainfield, New Jersey, USA


 * 12th Street riot: 23 July 1967, Detroit, Michigan, USA,  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.


 * Minneapolis-Saint Paul: USA, Fall 1967. Racial tensions boil over in North Minneapolis as whites continue to leave the decaying core of the inner city bound for the suburbs.


 * 1968 Chicago, Illinois riots: In Chicago, violence erupted in the black ghetto on the west side, eventually consuming a 28-block stretch of West Madison Street. Looting and arson took place primarily in the corridor between Roosevelt Road on the south and Chicago Avenue on the north.


 * 1968 Washington, D.C. riots: 4 April 1968, Washington, D.C., USA,  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


 * Baltimore riot of 1968: 4 April 1968, Baltimore, Maryland, USA


 * Glenville Shootout: 23 July 1968, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, ''Shootout between black militant organization led by Ahmed Evans and Cleveland Police Department attracted large and hostile black crowds that caused a 4 day long riot


 * Stonewall riots: June 1969, New York, New York, a turning point for the modern gay rights movement


 * 1969 North 24th Street Riots: 24 June 1969, North Omaha, Nebraska USA, 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.

1970s

 * New York City blackout of 1977: 13 July 1977, New York City, USA, That massive blackout was viewed by some as one symptom of the city's decline.


 * 1979 Southall Riot (Blair Peach): 23 April 1979, London, England

1980s

 * 1980 St. Pauls riot: 2 April 1980, Bristol, England


 * Arthur McDuffie: 8 May 1980, Miami, Florida, USA, black outrage at "a double standard of justice" 


 * 1981 Brixton riot: 11 April 1981, London, England


 * 1981 Toxteth riots: 5 July 1981, Liverpool, England


 * 1981 University of Puerto Rico/Rio Piedras Riots: 1981, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico


 * 1981 Chapeltown race riot: 1981, Leeds, England


 * 1980s Handsworth race riots: 10 July 1981, Birmingham, England


 * 1985 Brixton riot: 28 September 1985, Brixton, London, England


 * 1985 Broadwater Farm Riot: 6 October 1985, Tottenham, London, England


 * 1981 Toxteth riots: 1 October 1985, Liverpool, England


 * 1985 Peckham riots: 1 October 1985, London, England, A report by Lord Scarman acknowledged much of the widespread unrest had its roots in social and economic deprivation and in racial discrimination.

1990s

 * Crown Heights Riot: 19 August 1991, New York City, USA


 * Meadow Well Riots: 9 September 1991, Newcastle upon Tyne, England


 * 1992 Los Angeles riots: 29 April 1992, Los Angeles, California, USA


 * Riot of Rostock-Lichtenhagen: 22–24 August 1992, Rostock, Germany


 * Brixton riot (1995): 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.


 * Jakarta riots of May 1998: May 1998, Indonesia, triggered by economic decline; problems were both urban and rural

2000s

 * 2001 Cincinnati riots: 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.


 * Oldham Riots: 26 May 2001, Greater Manchester, England


 * Benton Harbor riots: 16 June 2003, Benton Harbor, Michigan


 * 2004 Redfern riots: 14 February 2004, Sydney, Australia


 * 2005 Macquarie Fields riots: 25 February 2005, Sydney, Australia, There is an open debate about the cause of this riot. One side cites economic factors and racism.


 * 2005 Toledo Riot: 15 October 2005, Toledo, Ohio, USA, Residents at forum named poverty, above other causes, as the kindling for the riot.


 * 2005 Birmingham riots: 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.


 * 2005 civil unrest in France: 2005 Paris, France


 * 2005 Cronulla riots: 2005 Sydney, Australia


 * 2006 Dublin riots: February 2006, Dublin, Ireland


 * 2008 Greek riots: December 2008, Athens and other major cities of Greece.

2010s

 * 2010 Kyrgyzstani uprising: April–May 2010, Bishkek and other cities in Kyrgyzstan


 * May 2010 Greek protests: May 2010, Throughout Greece to protest public spending cuts.