Punk Riot

A concertgoer was stabbed, four police officers were injured and 15 arrests made March 4th when rioting broke out seven hours into an all-day, 22-band punk show billed as “British Invasion 2K6” in San Bernardino, Calif.

Two police cars were destroyed and several area businesses were vandalized in the melee.

When police responded to reports of a stabbing at the fairground’s Events Center, concert-goers reportedly began throwing rocks and bottles. Backup police were called and within two hours, more than 190 officers representing 10 agencies were on the scene, according to the Los Angeles Times.

While some witnesses attributed the rioting to fans agitated at the presence of police, others said it was the presence of neo-Nazi and skinhead youth, who were reportedly shouting racist epithets, that triggered fights. Still others accused the police of tear-gassing the crowd without warning.

At one point, about 40 riot police marched down the city’s E Street, weapons drawn, in a phalanx formation, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

Whatever the cause, about 1,500 of an estimated crowd of 4,000 that came out to see bands such as GBH, The Adicts, and Broken Bones reportedly participated in the rioting.

Broken Bones was on stage and warned fans of the tear gas, setting off a stampede for the exits of the pavilion, witnesses told the San Bernardino Sun. An angry crowd of concert-goers, red-eyed and vomiting from the tear gas, gathered outside, one fan told the paper.

The manager of a Carl’s Jr. fast food restaurant locked the store’s doors as people gathered outside, and moved employees into a locked office just as one of the store’s windows shattered. The mob streamed in as the employees watched on security monitors, according to the Sun.

After the show was broken up and the Orange Show Events Center cleared, youths wandered through the nearby streets until early Sunday morning.

Business owner Jerry Casillas was one of several who blamed the venue’s management, according to the paper. He lost about $10,000 in merchandise from his smoke and novelties shop after the crowd used a cement trash can to bash in security bars covering the store’s windows.

“If [the organizers] had the proper security, they could have grabbed the people who were fighting and ended it,” Casillas told the Sun.

“They do racing and car shows and Big Foots,” the manager of another business said. “They should stick with that.”

Pollstar was unable to reach a representative for the National Orange Show Events Center.