Apparently somewhat of an annual tradition, riots broke out on the streets of Huntington Beach yesterday as the US Open of Surfing came to a close. Fights broke out, windows were smashed, porta-potties were flipped and one store even got looted before the LA riot police were called in to "disperse the crowd". Tear gas and rubber bullets were used, with one person apparently even getting shot in the face with a rubber bullet. Jesus!
Here's some news footage of the violence:
According to KTLA5's coverage (HERE):
The violent behavior erupted around 7 p.m. at Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway near the Huntington Beach Pier.
The unruly crowd broke windows, pushed over portable toilets and damaged several police cars, Huntington Beach police said.
Some people were throwing bottles and others were fighting, and at least one store was looted.
“It really started when a ketchup bottle came from the top story of a bar and exploded,” witness Kyle Calder said.
“Kid didn’t know what to do with it, threw it into the crowd. Couple more fights broke out. That’s when the cops came, and everything went mayhem from there.”
Officers dressed in riot gear used tear gas and rubber bullets to get people to disperse.
“The cops were like hitting people and they had like rubber bullets and they shot some guy in the face like right in front of us,” she said. “We were just sprinting down Main Street.”
And some more video, this time from inside the crowd:
A few things about this are funny to me. One - Aren't surfers supposed to be all "hey brah, just chill out"? and 2 - Coming from Montreal I have to ask ... You call that a riot?! That looks like the crowd outside Peel Pub on a regular Friday!
But seriously ... rioting is not cool. Anyone who's been near one and has half a brain will attest to that fact. Fun is fun, and getting rowdy is part of our lifestyle for sure, but there is no need to get violent and impact people who did not choose to be affected ... ie. store owners and innocent passerby's. Take that shit to the waves or the skatepark and work that aggresion out in a more positive way.
