History Main / PowderKegCrowd

[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}

* In [[Theatre/{{Twilight}} Twilight:Los Angeles]] the uniting arc of the interviews that Anna Deveare Smith collected is the 1992 riots in LosAngeles.

* In Stephen Hunt's ''The Court Of The Air'', when a crowd gathers about the castle, the figurehead/scapegoat king [[ComeToGawk comes out on the balcony]] to let them throw fruit and rubbish at him, sating their desire to riot.

# Someone provokes them, possibly from more-or-less legitimate fear of how bad it could get. Particularly likely when a BlueBlood doesn't take them seriously. Then the mob really is whipped up. Lots of damage all around. Although most of the dead are likely to be in the crowd, it really does get that bad. (TorchesAndPitchforks is not likely; the mob is not focused and will likely destroy whatever they get their hands on.) If the crowd has weapons, it may become a BlastOut.

* {{Halo}} 3: ODST has a crowd trying to get on a subway train that the corrupt police commissioner has commandeered. His men are shooting anyone that gets too close, and when it seems like he's about to accomplish what he's been trying to do for the entire audio story (rape the girl that the story centers around) her companion manages to get the crowd riled up enough to overwhelm the cops and break onto the train, ripping the guy to shreds. Literally.
* In Suikoden V the Prince [[spoiler:finds out that Salum Barrows took advantage of one of these to steal the Dawn Rune]]

* Played for laughs in {{FairlyOddParents}}, after a crowd celebrating a young Denzel Crocker's achievements has their memory of what he did wiped, leaving them confused as to why they are there.
** "Well, we're not celebrating anything... so we must be ann angry mob!" Cue the TorchesAndPitchforks.
* In the SpongebobSquarepants episode "Bubble Buddy", a crowd of people become enraged at the eponymous bubble. Once they're set off, they tip over the the lifeguard stand and attempt to kill the lifeguard before focusing their rage on Bubble Buddy

* In ''[[ShadowsOfTheApt Blood of the Mantis]'', the news of the [[spoiler:queen's death]] puts [[spoiler:Szar]] into this, although the Wasps foolishly think they can suppress it.

This can last a long, long, long time, but eventually something will happen.

# Someone does something provocative, possibly from more-or-less legitimate fear of how bad it could get. Particularly likely when a BlueBlood doesn't take them seriously. Then the mob really is whipped up. Lots of damage all around. Although most of the dead are likely to be in the crowd, it really does get that bad. (TorchesAndPitchforks is not likely; the mob is not focused and will likely destroy whatever they get their hands on.) If the crowd has weapons, it may become a BlastOut.

Someone does something provocative, possibly from more-or-less legitimate fear of how bad it could get. Particularly likely when a BlueBlood doesn't take them seriously. Then the mob really is whipped up. Lots of damage all around. Although most of the dead are likely to be in the crowd, it really does get that bad. (TorchesAndPitchforks is not likely; the mob is not focused and will likely destroy whatever they get their hands on.) If the crowd has weapons, it may become a BlastOut.

Or, conversely, someone can calm them, soothing them and sending them going. This can be ShamingTheMob, or it can be convincing them that things are being handled properly.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots 1992 LA Riots]]. There was large amounts of tension even before the officers involved in the Rodney King incident were acquitted (due to an AsianStoreOwner who shot a black girl that she thought was shoplifting, being given only 5 years probation), as well as the rampant poverty in the area. The officers' acquittal was just the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots 1992 LA Riots]]. There was large amounts of tension even before the officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted (due to an AsianStoreOwner who shot a black girl who she thought was shoplifting, and who had physically assaulted her, being given only 5 years probation), as well as the rampant poverty in the area. The officers' acquittal was just the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

* Examples of this are really all too common in history, right up to the [[TheDogBitesBack protests in the Arab world]] seen this year.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots 1992 LA Riots]]. There was large amounts of tension even before the officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted (due to an asian store owner who shot a black girl who she thought was shoplifting, and who had physically assaulted her, being given only 5 years probation), as well as the rampant poverty in the area. The officers' acquittal was just the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

* Also toward the end of ''HotRod'', a crowd of people are following the protaganist through the streets, to the sound of 80's power rock music. Everything's great, people are singing, everyone's getting hyped up for [[TheBigJump.]] When, all of a sudden, someone throws a trashcan through a window. Riot police appear of nowhere, and eventually, it's a full-scale riot.

* Also toward the end of ''HotRod'', a crowd of people are following the protaganist through the streets, to the sound of 80's power rock music. Everything's great, people are singing, everyone's getting hyped up for [[The big jump.]] When, all of a sudden, someone throws a trashcan through a window. Riot police appear of nowhere, and eventually, it's a full-scale riot.

* Toward the end of ''DoTheRightThing'', Mookie intentionally turns an angry mob into a full-blown riot by picking up a trash can and throwing it through a diner window (the owner having [[spoiler:been ''very'' distantly connected to the death of one of his friends]]). YourMileageMayVary on whether this was supposed to be the "right thing".

* The '92 LA Riots. There was large amounts of tension even before the officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted (due to an asian store owner who shot a black girl who she thought was shoplifting, and who had physically assaulted her, being given only 5 years probation), as well as the rampant poverty in the area. The officers' acquittal was just the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

* In Tamora Pierce's book Bloodhound the combination of rampant counterfeiting of silver, and a potential blight in a major grain crop turn the entire capital into this with a massive riot starting after a shop owner doubles the price for bread in the slum district.

* In Indianapolis, Bobby Kennedy defused such a situation the day Martin Luther King Jr. was shot: there was no riot.

* In ''TheWatchmen'' the whole prison goes berserk when an inmate finally dies from injuries inflicted by [[{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]].

"Well, we're not celebrating anything... so we must be ann angry mob!" Cue the {{TorchesAndPitchforks}}.