Syracuse Ska Forum

Rioting breaks out at British punk concert in San Bernardino
The Associated Press
SAN BERNARDINO
Rioting broke out Saturday night at a concert featuring British punk bands
and several people were injured and two police cars were destroyed, officials
said.
The rioting started about 8 p.m. at the "British Invasion 2K6" show at the
National Orange Show Events Center when police responded to a report of a
stabbing inside the concert area, said Sgt. Rick Lindsey, a spokesman for the
San
Bernardino Police Department.
When officers arrived, the crowd became agitated and several fights broke
out, forcing the officers to withdraw, Lindsey said. After backup arrived, the
officers went in again and extracted the stabbing victim and another person
who was beaten, Lindsey said.
Some people in the crowd of about 1,500 then started pelting officers with
rocks and bottles and police were again forced to withdraw, Lindsey said.
Several surrounding law enforcement agencies, including Los Angeles County
sheriff's deputies and Fontana police, then arrived and officers began
dispersing the crowd in different directions, Lindsey said.
Officers lined up in phalanx formation to clear the streets and they fired
pepper balls and tear gas to move the crowd, Lindsey said.
As the crowd dispersed they destroyed two police cars and vandalized area
businesses, Lindsey said. A trash bin was set on fire and storefront windows
were smashed.
Two officers suffered minor injuries, but stayed on duty to disperse the
crowd, Lindsey said.
The two people wounded in the concert fight were hospitalized in serious
condition, he said.
The all-day concert was scheduled to feature 22 punk rock bands, including
G.B.H. and the Adicts.
Published: Saturday, March 4, 2006 23:24 PST

gbh is okay, but the adicts are horrible

I hope the police at least took out 78% of those retards.

San Bernadino is a tough town to begin with. Pretty ugly too, sorry. It's quite far from LA County, so I'm surprised that LA County Sheriffs would get involved (Riverside Co would have made way more sense), but I'm guessing this event didn't have proper permits anyway. That's probably why they had it in San Bernardino to begin with -- LA County authorities are pretty saavy about this sort of thing.

I'd also be curious what the promoter had to say about this whole mess. Big festivals are always a big hassle, in part, because they attract a bad element. Too bad this went so sour.

I'll leave the band commentary to Steven.

Okay. This sums it up...

Mohawks and punk rock flair (buttons, patches, paint strategically placed on jackets and vests to signal to other awkward idiots in a 5 mile radius)


'Street punx' are useless.

Even crusty and dbeat kids are not this useless. Really.


Crucial Unit said it best...

punks and skins - let's unite them!
punks and skins - put them on a boat!
punks and skins - send them off to sea!
punks and skins - and sink those f*ck!!

And I thought I was a cranky old man.

God I would give all my money to force the crusties and punks and just flat out scummy people into a makeshift town in the middle of the desert. Then dropping a bomb on them.

*insert "up the punx" comment here?*