Posted on 02/14/2013 3:31:05 PM PST by BBell
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A number of police cars responded to Minneapolis South High School Thursday after an alleged food fight escalated into a melee involving 200 to 300 students.
The school posted a note on its website stating the high school was placed on a precautionary code yellow lockdown due to “a food fight that escalated into a physical fight.”
Sgt. William Palmer, of the Minneapolis Police Department, said no weapons were involved in the incidents. However, four people were taken to the hospital following the melee.
Those taken to the hospital were a school staff member, who was hit in the head with a bottle, and three students, who suffered injuries unrelated to the fight, the school said. It did not elaborate on what injured the three students.
Twelve people complained that they had been sprayed with mace. Police at the scene said they had to use chemical agent to get the crowd under control as they were being pelted with objects as they tried to break things up.
The main incident occurred during the school’s third period lunch, around 12:45 p.m., and lasted about 15 minutes. Staff members responded to the incident and followed security procedures, according to the school.
One student, Abdi Sheikh, said he saw hundreds of students fighting in what appeared to be a racial incident.
“A big riot,” he said. “I was all types of races.
(Excerpt) Read more at minnesota.cbslocal.com ...
Maybe not...
South High School Profile
Demographics
Minneapolis, a city of 400,000 people, supports seven public high schools and numerous private schools. South High serves its local population as well as drawing students for special Programs from the entire city. South High is comprised of families who are linguistically, ethnically, racially, religiously, and economically diverse. South High is a public co-educational school of nearly 2000 students in grades 9-12. This population includes approximately 7% Native American, 27% African American, 7% Asian American and 8% Hispanic American. The senior class will number about 450.
Make sure you get a good pic. My lawyer's gonna need it...
“I know it’s a pride thing between Muslims and black people,” she said. “They want their pride back for something. I don’t know.”The fights, students said, were the result of long-simmering tensions between the 8 percent of students who are of Somalian decent and the 20 percent of student who are African American.
From one of the comments
My son's experience has been great for 11 year in the Mpls. Public Schools, although in middle school, he experienced a lot of fights for the first two years. The third year, there weren't any fights, and his explanation was that most of the Somali kids weren't there anymore, and that most of the fights had been between them and the African-American kids.
So can a finger in many public schools today.
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