Oh, those silly Reuters editors and byline writers. Everybody knows Salt Lake City and its associations with alcoholic beverages is more closely associated with Mormonism, than with its identity as a state capital.
I guess it wouldn't be politically correct to associate Mormons and cops firing ruber bullets into a crowd of inebriated international Olympians????
Where was A-10 Warthog when we needed them ? Its Gatling gun does wonders.
Sheesh!
Eye witnesses said the crowd started throwing rocks and bottles at the police. An area was quickly cordoned off by police cars and helicopters hovered overhead with searchlights on as a series of running skirmishes took place.
"The trouble started at 2350 because nobody else was going to be allowed into the Budweiser tent because it was closing at midnight," a youth calling himself G.A. said.
"Everybody was packed into the street and everybody started stealing each other's beer and throwing bottles. The police came and one of them was hit in the face by a bottle.
"The police started firing rubber bullets. Then the crowd got really wild and starting chanting "U S A" and hurling bottles at windows."
Brandon Bolan, 17, from Salt Lake City showed reporters an injury on his shin which he said was caused by a rubber bullet.
"None of us had been drinking, we were standing watching police and the cops told us to leave. I held my camera to take a picture and the police fired at the ground in front of me and the bullet hit me in the leg.
"We were just leaving and we only stopped to see what was happening."
Click here for full story.
When you are a guest in someone's home, you abide by those rules. If anyone here believes differently about this in the above situation, then I don't want to see you complaining on any of those illegal alien/immigrant threads. It's the same principle.
I applause the people of Utah and SLC for their restraint. Just because the rest of the world and some areas of the nation have become used to the antics of ravaging animals doesn't mean good people have to accept it.
You better believe if such animals started rioting in my town I'd be out there with the militia picking off looters and rioters to protect my family, friends and loved ones.
Message to all liberal lurkers: Try this in my town and you will be "dissappointed" with our response.
Rule #1: No Glass Bottles (Do not hand weapons to drunks)
Kyle Blackman, 18, said: "A fight broke out between two kids over a beer. The cops came in to stop the fight. We turned and tried to go but someone threw a beer at the cops and they opened up on us.
If true, that one thrown beer resulted in a wanton police response of firing rubber bullets indiscriminately into a crowd, then I guess we now qualify as a banana republic.
When people behave like these "youth" did it's no wonder why Utah has strict regulations.
According to the local authorities what actually happened last night was that the beer garden was filled, the operators closed the gates to prevent over-crowding, those on the outside threw a hissy fit, and the cops moved in to prevent injury to innocent by-standers, and property damage.
You can read the local version at http://www.deseretnews.com.
FWIW, I'm a native of Utah, not a Mormon, but I do appreciate the relative absence of drunkenness on the streets of our capitol city. And the last time I checked our Constitution still gives states the right to pass laws reflecting the views of the majority of the residents.
CNN Correspondent Rusty Dornin spoke to CNN's Miles O'Brien about how the disturbance got started and how police reacted.
CNN: I guess, Rusty, you could call this a Bud fight.