You don't see this every day: two feuding families rioted in bustling downtown Marion, Aalabama (pop. 29,465) today. I'm surprised the National Guard wasn't called in; everyone else was! The details from the Birmingham News:
Officers from eight police departments and Alabama state troopers set up a perimeter around the Marion City Hall around 11 a.m. today after a feud between two families reportedly spilled into a riot this morning involving about 100 people.
Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner Jr. told The Birmingham News that the trouble started about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, when members of one family came into the city and began fighting with members of another family. Police were called to the scene, no arrests were made and things settled down, Turner said. State Trooper John Reese said children of the 2 feuding families began arguing at the high school this morning and shotguns were found in their cars. The students were brought to City Hall and then their families showed up and the disturbance began.
"There were over 100 people and bystanders when the rest of the students' families started another fight outside City Hall, and it ended up inside City hall," Reese said. "The families got into it at the police station and took it from there," Turner said.
Dan–this is the second time this month that Marion's been mention in the lounge.
http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2009/08/future-directions-on-probate-in-the-old-south.html
I wonder what effect, if any, communication technology and social media contributed to the speed at which the dispute spread and the speed at which these sorts of numbers gathered so quickly. It would be interesting to see what sort of cell phone calling patterns, texting patterns, facebook posts, etc. occurred during the build-up.
My first reaction was that it sounded similar to a flashmob.