police riot is a riot carried out by the police ; a riot that the police are responsible for instigating , escalating or sustaining as a violent confrontation ; an event characterized by widespread police brutality ; a mass police action that is violently undertaken against civilians for the purpose of political repression . The term " police riot " was popularized after its use in the '' Walker Report '' , which investigated the events surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago to describe the " unrestrained and indiscriminate " violence that the police " inflicted upon persons who had broken no law , disobeyed no order , made no threat . " In this sense a police riot refers to rioting carried out by the police ( or those acting in a police capacity ) rather than a riot carried out by people who may be motivated to a greater or lesser degree by grievances with the police ( see the 1981 Toxteth riots or the 1992 Los Angeles Riots for examples of riots over policing rather than police riots )
1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
Police riot