Angry mobs storm US city as racism and police brutality spark huge riots

The Sunday Post covered what would be a pivotal moment in modern American history 56 years ago.

The Watts riots, as they came to be known, were fought against a backdrop of racial segregation, discrimination and police brutality, issues all-too-familiar to African Americans to this day.

“Thousands more troops and police poured into the shattered section of Los Angeles and fought roving bands of rioters yesterday as the death toll from the outbreak rose to 17. Bands of looters and arsonists dodged troops over a 150-block area of the city.

“Mobs of men, women and children surged through the streets shouting ‘kill, kill’.

“Discrimination in employment, education, alleged police brutality, and lack of community leadership were blamed yesterday for the unrest.

“National Guardsmen

were told to shoot only in defence. Guardsmen sealed off a large area and barred all traffic.”

The riots started when 21-year-old Marquette Frye, an African-american man drink driving his mother’s car, was beaten after resisting arrest and a rumour started police had kicked a pregnant woman. The Mccone Commission was set up to investigate the riots but most of the recommendations it made were never implemented.