This weekend, a riot broke out on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. According to news reports, 1,500 kids went on a "rampage" and clashed with riot cops after an incident at the premiere screening of Baker's new "Bake and Destroy" video. The media have dubbed the incident "The Hollywood Skate Riot."WIth the Arab Spring, Occupy, Israel's J14 protests, Mexico's #YoSoy132 movement, and that one Jay-Z/Kanye West music video, it seems that youth-revolt fever is taking over the globe. I guess it was only a matter of time before American youth said "ENOUGH" and started to fight back.
Photo by Sam James Velde.I spoke to a guy who was in Hollywood when it all went down to find out what happened.VICE: So, tell me about the riot.
Sam James Velde: Basically there were two screenings of the new Baker video. One for friends and family at 8 PM, and one that was open admission on a first-come, first-served basis at 9 PM.Right.
So we turned up at 7:30 for the first screening, and there were probably like 500 kids in line already. Which means they must have been waiting since 6:00. We went in to watch it, and as soon as it ended people were like, "everyone has to exit out the back!" And they put us all into an alley, because they didn't want anyone going out front and escalating what was happening out there. We had to wait there for two or three hours.What was happening out front?
Well, kids were lining all the way up to this hotel called The Redbury, and they started getting crazy. Someone started to pull down the parking sign and someone had one of those red laser pointer things and they were shining it on people. You know skater kids; you make 'em wait three hours, they'll get wild.OK.
And then I guess someone threw something through the front door. Which was glass. And then everyone just went crazy.
Went crazy how?
Well, they deployed the police and they shut down the streets and held everyone. Everyone was freaking out.So did kids fight with the cops? Was any other property damaged?
No. As far as I know, the worst thing that happened was the door getting broken.Huh. Well, thanks for speaking with me, Sam.---So there you have it, AmeriKKKa. Your youth is rising up. If you're reading this, The Man, just know that you can't keep us down forever. Push us, and we will fight back. As long as you continue to keep us out of free screenings of skateboarding videos, this is the kind of shit you can expect to see a lot more of. This is just the beginning.Follow Jamie on Twitter - @JLCT
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Sam James Velde: Basically there were two screenings of the new Baker video. One for friends and family at 8 PM, and one that was open admission on a first-come, first-served basis at 9 PM.Right.
So we turned up at 7:30 for the first screening, and there were probably like 500 kids in line already. Which means they must have been waiting since 6:00. We went in to watch it, and as soon as it ended people were like, "everyone has to exit out the back!" And they put us all into an alley, because they didn't want anyone going out front and escalating what was happening out there. We had to wait there for two or three hours.What was happening out front?
Well, kids were lining all the way up to this hotel called The Redbury, and they started getting crazy. Someone started to pull down the parking sign and someone had one of those red laser pointer things and they were shining it on people. You know skater kids; you make 'em wait three hours, they'll get wild.OK.
And then I guess someone threw something through the front door. Which was glass. And then everyone just went crazy.
Well, they deployed the police and they shut down the streets and held everyone. Everyone was freaking out.So did kids fight with the cops? Was any other property damaged?
No. As far as I know, the worst thing that happened was the door getting broken.Huh. Well, thanks for speaking with me, Sam.---So there you have it, AmeriKKKa. Your youth is rising up. If you're reading this, The Man, just know that you can't keep us down forever. Push us, and we will fight back. As long as you continue to keep us out of free screenings of skateboarding videos, this is the kind of shit you can expect to see a lot more of. This is just the beginning.Follow Jamie on Twitter - @JLCT