Had the Rodney King insurrection been merely a riot, President Bush would not have invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 when he sent both the California National Guard and Army infantry regular troops into South Central. In terms of the 1807 law, what happened in South Central was a bona fide insurrection, which is why Bush invoked the act.
Wasnt a rebellion or insurrection.
It was opportunism and social pathology.