Los Angeles 1992 Riots

Background | The Riots | Timeline | Other Minorities | Aftermath | Sources










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A California Highway Patrol officer directs traffic around a shopping center engulfed in flames on April 30.


The 1992 Los Angeles riots, also known as the Rodney King riots, the South Central riots,the 1992 Los Angeles civil disturbance, the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest, the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising, and the Battle of Los Angeles, were a series of riots, lootings, arsons, and civil disturbancesthat occurred in Los Angeles County, California in April and May 1992. The unrest began in South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after a trial jury acquitted four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department for usage of excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King, which had been videotaped and widely viewed in TV broadcasts. The rioting spread throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area, as thousands of people rioted over a six-day period following the announcement of the verdict. Widespread looting, assault, arson, and murder occurred during the riots, and estimates of property damage were over $1 billion. With local police overwhelmed in controlling the situation, Governor Pete Wilson sent in the California Army National Guard, and President George H. W. Bush deployed the 7th Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Division. After that, order and peace were restored throughout L.A. County, but 63 people were killed, 2,383 people were injured, and more than 12,000 were arrested. LAPD chief of police Daryl Gates, who had already announced his resignation by the time of the riots, was attributed with much of the blame.

firefighters

Firefighters spray water on a burning building in South Los Angeles on April 30, 1992, a day after rioting broke out over the acquittal of four white police officers charged with assault and the use of excessive force on Rodney King.




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