History Main / PowderKegCrowd

# [[RabbleRouser 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 or when the police at the scene take an overly aggressive approach. 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, which means they are often far more destructive than TorchesAndPitchforks.) If the crowd has weapons, it may become a BlastOut or a MolotovCocktail throw-fest. Looting is also very common, and innocent bystanders unlucky enough to be in their vicinity are likely to be savagely attacked.\\

* ''Film/TheManWhoWouldBeKing'': Near the climax of the film Dravot's guise as the god-king Sikander is foiled by his would-be-bride, as she scratches him in front of the high priests during their wedding ceremony, [[GodGuise making it evident he bleeds like a mortal man]]. Dravot and Peachy try to make their getaway, but the high priests soon whip up the entire city into a frenzy and go after the men- not even their loyal trained riflemen and their [[NepaliWithNastyKnives Gurkha manservant]] can stem the tide of angry zealots set to kill the men for masquerading as their god.

* ''Film/TheManWhoWouldBeKing'': Near the climax of the film Dravot's guise as the god-king Sikander is foiled by his would-be-bride, as she scratches him in front of the high priests during their wedding ceremony, making it evident he bleeds like a mortal man. Dravot and Peachy try to make their getaway, but the high priests soon whip up the entire city into a frenzy and go after the men- not even their loyal trained riflemen and their gurkha manservant can stem the tide of angry zealots set to kill the men for masquerading as their god.

* During 1848, there was a string of nationalist revolutions, revolutionary attempts and riots all across Europe. England was the only nation to mostly avoid violence, having gone through very similar turbulence sixteen years earlier, and having enacted reforms to resolve some of the internal tension.

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

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/BabylonBerlin http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/babylon_berlin_tv_show_sky_5.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/ShaunOfTheDead "...You've got red on you."]]]]

** In the TV adaptation, ''Series/AGameOfThrones'', Tyrion Lannister, part of the entourage, could [[GenreSavvy metaphorically smell the explosive powder in the air]] during that scene and immediately ordered his younger niece and nephew's guards to take a safer route before everything exploded.

* Since ''Series/BabylonBerlin'' is set in UsefulNotes/TheWeimarRepublic, a riot is characterised as something of a weekly occurrence (and only if it's not interrupted by an attempted revolution or coup d'etat). In the show, a (Communist) 1st of May demonstration gets out of hand, and it ends with the police driving by with ''armoured cars'' and spraying the streets with machine gun fire.

* Since, ''Series/BabylonBerlin'' is set in UsefulNotes/TheWeimarRepublic, a riot was something of a weekly occurrence (and only if it wasn't superceded by an attempted revolution or coup d'etat). In the show, a 1st of May demonstration gets out of hand, and ends with the police driving by with ''armoured cars'' and spraying the streets with machine gun fire.

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Film/ShaunOfTheDead ...You've got red on you.]]'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/ShaunOfTheDead ...You're got red on you.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/ShaunOfTheDead ...You're got red on you.]]

* Since, ''Series/BabylonBerlin'' is set in UsefulNotes/TheWeimarRepublic, a riot was something of a weekly occurrence (and only if it wasn't superceded by an attempted revolution of coup d'etat). In the show, a 1st of May demonstration gets out of hand, and ends with the police driving through the streets with ''armoured cars'' and spraying the streets with machine gun fire.

* In the ''WildSeries'', every time the [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent manbeasts]] go into human settlements, the humans start getting suspicious and violent because they subliminally pick up the destructive power the manbeasts are capable of. This in turn makes the manbeasts lose their control and [[ShapeshifterIdentityCrisis involuntarily react]], escalating the situation.

* Nathanael West's ''Literature/TheDayOfTheLocust'' climaxes with a Hollywood movie premiere at which the crowd of star-gawkers, whom the point-of-view character regards as having been disappointed and disillusioned by the life of leisure they thought they would find in Los Angeles after years of work back east - gets more and more restless and agitated, and finally explodes into a full-scale riot after a young child actor [[spoiler:gets stomped to death]]. It's disturbing enough in the book, but John Schlesinger's movie version takes it to the level of full-on NightmareFuel.

* Nathanael West's ''Literature/TheDayOfTheLocust'' climaxes with a Hollywood movie premiere at which the crowd of star-gawkers gets more and more restless and agitated, and finally explodes into a full-scale riot after a young child actor [[spoiler:gets stomped to death]].
** It's disturbing enough in the book, but John Schlesinger's movie version takes it to the level of full-on NightmareFuel.

* Nathanael West's ''The Day of the Locust'' climaxes with a Hollywood movie premiere at which the crowd of star-gawkers gets more and more restless and agitated, and finally explodes into a full-scale riot after a young child actor [[spoiler:gets stomped to death]].

* In ''Film/TheHungerGames'', a crowd in District 11 is shown watching the Hunger Games. When [[spoiler: Rue dies and Katniss salutes her]], an angry man in the crowd starts attacking the guards, provoking a full scale riot.

* Happens a couple of times in the ''Literature/ProvostsDog'' books by Creator/TamoraPierce. In ''Terrier'', Beka is deeply unsettled by an unnaturally ''quiet'' crowd that gathers to witness the evidence of a horrible crime, which breaks out into a riot not long after. In ''Bloodhound'', a crowd of people angry over rising bread prices turns into a mob that breaks both of Tunstall's legs.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_London_riots The riots in London and other major centers in England]] that same year.

* Happens a few times in ''[[Literature/{{Dragaera}} Teckla]]'', in which the narrator Vlad is so apolitical that he has no clue ''why'' everyone in South Adrilankha is so worked up, or why particular choices by activists and/or city authorities either soothe or heighten the tension. In ''Five Hundred Years After'', conspirators intentionally engineer a riot by stirring up the PowderKegCrowd of hungry people in Dragaera City's slums. The one tasked to do so admits that she won't be able to control how long it lasts or how far it'll spread, just when it starts.

* According to ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'', all it takes to turn a mildly disgruntled crowd - especially a Black crowd - into a full blown riot is someone throwing a chair. This starts off sounding like Riley's normal level of hyperbole, until he actually does so: the crowd stops, one guy yells "I'M MAD" and punches someone else at random, and it all instantly descends into an orgy of violence. This, despite the fact that it was Riley the crowd was angry at, and that the chair ''didn't even hit anyone''.