5/26/2002: Mardi Gras mob done terribly wrong

Apparently this photo won some awards but didn't get very much distribution...

I can see why...I don't think most of the mainstream would want to open that can of worms.

I hope that pic was used to identify offenders.

<a href="http://www.poynter.org/centerpiece/nppa/photo/DomNews.htm">comments</a> from the photographer:
<blockquote>
For Urban, Seattle's Fat Tuesday celebration in Seattle's Pioneer Square district was "a frightening experience to witness." Urban clearly recalled that during the violent culmination of a week of Mardi Gras festivities he "finally got scared enough in the crowd that I looked to get to higher ground." He added, "I worked my way to a perch atop of a fire escape and convinced the owner to allow me to stay there. When he saw what was going on below me, he allowed me to stay."

"Things had gotten out of control and I could not really take pictures from the crowd as I worked with my Canon D-2000 digital cameras. I saw this woman who in typical Mardi Gras fashion was asked to raise her top, when she refused. They (the men around her) began to reach at her and tear her clothes. In the fury of the moment, I got off 12 frames or so and then my camera overheated. This is a normal defect of that version of digital camera (we are getting new EOS-1D's soon)."
</blockquote>

I was actually there. I worked 1 block from Pioneer Square and a bunch of us had to stay late. We heard a huge noise and went down to check it. It was the most out of control thing I've ever seen in my life. Young, white, high school kids were getting pistol-whipped and what not for no reason. Crazy...

I can't get over the fact that if this girl was screaming and not having a good time, and these people are just pulling, tugging, and tearing away at her, smiling the entire time -- how come there weren't any police nearby?
Mardi Gras around here is quite tame. Last year, it got a little out of hand, so this year they had quite the beefed-up patrol.

We had some serious probs with our celebration in St. Louis 3 years ago. Cops were apparently picking on innocents, and crowds went after the police with beer bottles.

Then we had the fun that was Mardi Gras 2001 in Philadelphia. Pure bedlam. Crowds running amok along South Street, caused a bunch of damage. One cop was caught apparently giving beads to a drunk reveler showing her breasts. This year's celebration was much better controlled.