Posted on 05/06/2005 8:44:31 AM PDT by Dashing Dasher
Arrests, riot mar Richmond celebration
RICHMOND - Cinco de Mayo celebrations got out of hand Thursday as more than 160 police from several local agencies were called in to disperse a crowd of up to 700 people after a riot erupted shortly after 8 p.m.
At least one person was arrested during what police described as an "unlawful assembly," and there were reports of vandalism and broken windows at some businesses.
A Richmond police officer was struck in the head with a bottle, according to Richmond police Sgt. Mark Gagan. Officer Robert Mulder sustained minor injuries and was treated and released.
Gagan said that around 5 p.m. more than 1,200 people waving flags and in festive spirits had gathered along 23rd Street to celebrate the Mexican patriotic holiday.. As the evening wore on and the crowds began to dwindle, police were called when fights broke out in the area of 23rd and Wendell Avenue around 8 p.m.
Some people started throwing bottles and rocks at police as they moved in to disperse the crowd, Gagan said. Officers in riot gear formed a line at Lowell Avenue and corralled the crowd of 500 to 700 people onto side street adjacent to 23rd Street.
When Richmond police decided to clear the street they called in support from other local agencies, including the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office, San Pablo, Hercules, Pinole and El Cerrito police departments, and the Highway Patrol for helicopters.
At one point there was a brawl of 20 people with four officers trying to control it, said acting Richmond police Lt. Enos Johnson.
Police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd. There were at least two arrests, four or five detentions and 20 citations, Gagan said.
{ SNIP } Click link to read the rest of the story
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Please read to the end.... of this excerpt to see why Cinco de Mayo is a silly, rootless holiday!...
El Cinco de Mayo ("Fifth of May" in Spanish) is a national holiday in Mexico. It commemorates the victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza over the French expeditionary forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
Under the pretext of forcing payment for Mexico's outstanding and crippling debt, Britain, Spain and France sent troops to Mexico. The democratically elected government of President Benito Juárez made agreements with the British and the Spanish, who promptly recalled their armies, but the French stayed. Emperor Napoleon III wanted to secure French dominance in the former Spanish colony, including installing one of his relatives, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, as ruler of Mexico. Although Abraham Lincoln roundly condemned Napoleon's imperialist ambitions in a neighboring country, he was unable to assist Mexico as the United States was embroiled in the American Civil War at the time.
Confident of a quick victory, 6,500 French soldiers marched on Mexico City to seize the capital before the Mexicans could muster a viable defense. Along their march, the French already encountered stiff resistance before Zaragoza struck out to intercept the invaders.
The battle between the French and Mexican armies occurred on May 5 when Zaragoza's ill-equipped militia of 4,500 men encountered the better armed French force. However, Zaragoza's small and nimble cavalry units were able to prevent French dragoons from taking the field and overwhelming the Mexican infantry. With the dragoons removed from the main attack, the Mexicans routed the remaining French soldiers with a combination of their tenacity, inhospitable terrain, and a stampede of cattle set off by local peasants. The invasion was stopped and crushed.
Zaragoza won the battle but lost the war. The French Emperor, upon learning of the failed invasion, immediately dispatched another force, this time numbering 30,000 soldiers. By 1864, they succeeded in defeating the Mexican army and occupying Mexico City. Archduke Maximillian became Emperor of Mexico.
I hope this is Richmond, CA and not Richmond, VA.
California, of course.
This is in Richmond, Virginia?
CALIFORNIA....
Is Cinco de Mayo big in Virginia?
Ever been to NoVA (Northern Virginia)? You'd know the answer to your question if you had.
No sillier than a bunch of plastic paddies in the US celebrating a Welsh saint.
I have - but it was many years ago.
It's been 20 years since I was last in the Richmond, VA area. But at the rate of hispanic immigration to this country, I wouldn't be surprised to see a city like Richmond, VA taken over.
I don't know about Richmond. Don't really have much reason to go down there. In NoVa, I think the predominant Latino population is El Salvadorean. But Cinqo de Mayo is a bit like St. Patrick's Day. All of the Latino community yesterday seemed to be Mexican.
Great. One of my projects is in Richmond. It is one s*ithole of a place.
Please assure me that you avoid downtown Richmond at all costs!
That's because there's no reason for any other Hispanic group to be involved, it's a Mexican holiday.
Never been there. I've been on the Richmond bridge once.
I just love the fact that it is such a BS holiday.
Whatever...
;-)
Reason #541 why not to live in California...Cinco de Mayo Riots.
I have NO QUALMS with BS holidays, if they include a reason to have a drink.
In fact, I think today is some sort of Holiday in Elbonia, no? Let's have a drink!
It's FRIDAY!
Enuf reason to drink!
PS.. I don't mind the "reason to drink" holiday - but, the riots and the idiots throwing things and destroying private property is overboard...
I used to enjoy a margarita on 5/5 - but won't leave the comfort of my upper middle class neighborhood on that day anymore.
GIGIF!!!
(Gee, I'm glad it's FRIDAY!)
What day is "flash your breasts" day? I can never keep track of these things.....
You missed it - whatever day it was.
darn it!
"That's because there's no reason for any other Hispanic group to be involved, it's a Mexican holiday."
Using that logic no one other than actual Irish should celebrate St. Patrick's Day. But yet around the world they do. I think you're missing my point. Even the non-Mexican Latinos were celebrating was the point I was making. I was comparing it to "everyone is Irish" on St. Paddy's Day.
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