<h2 ="date-er">Thursday, October 30, 2008</h2>
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Riot in Philadelphia After the Phillies Win World Series
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With two overturned cars, numerous bonfires, tear-gas canisters, and a
busload of riot cops, last night proved to one of the most wild and
out-of-control celebrations of any championship that this writer has
ever observed. When the Phillies won the World Series a crowd converged
on City Hall, a mob that quickly went from festive and joyous, to
riotous and destructive. Like a war-torn path of destruction, North
Broad Street stood desolate after riot cops secured the area by pushing
thousands down Walnut and Chestnut sts., past an overturned and burned
out car towards a blackened dumpster, where someone had lit a blazing
fire. The trash that had accumulated steadily on the street fueled
large bonfires beside which people warmed their hands and danced until
they were pushed away by Philadelphia police, who stamped the fires out
and contained them. As the night wore on and sales at the beer shops
skyrocketed, fights broke out. A large fire on Chestnut Street erupted,
a fire that turned out to be an overturned red sedan with a smashed
windshield. Down the street another overturned car stood on its side,
its windshield also smashed. Riot police arrived in a yellow school-bus
and formed a line in amongst the thousands of energized Phillies fans,
who had quickly turned from celebrators into rioters, and tear gas
canisters went off, sending hundreds rushing up North Broad Street. A
photographer's camera was smashed by an angry rioter, as riot cops
swarmed upon the fight, securing the perimeter from any more assaults.
A SEPTA transit stop was mangled and destroyed, the metal twisted and
broken and the framework of what had once been a transit shelter lying
on the street in front of Philadelphia police, who stood with batons in
hand. Walking back from the riot, one man yelled "I hate the police,"
at which point another turned to him and said, "I'd be careful if I
were you."
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By
kenneth elder</span>
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at
<abbr ="published" title="2008-10-30T10:05:00-04:00">10/30/2008</abbr>
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