[monday]

"Yes it is. The cops were surrounded by people who were beginning an honest-to-goodness riot. Do you suggest that the cops should have read 19th century French poetry to calm the crowd?"

I think they should get high power lights and cameras and film everyone present, then show it on TV the next day. Embarrass them, then make the rioters pay for damages and do 3 or 4 years in prison each. Another method might be to fire really loud blanks into the air. Gunshots usually get peoples attention. What you don't want to do is make victims of the rioters by shooting them. Unless they are beating someone up, killing them is unreasonable.

[r9etb]

Uh huh. And I suppose the threat of future embarassment would have mollified the nice people who were tearing things up and headed toward the cops with makeshift clubs....

Lest you get on too high a horse here, the girl's death was an ACCIDENT, and a freak accident at that.