Rioters ran through the streets of downtown Eugene, blocking traffic and resisting arrest on June 18, 1999. The event had escalated from an international protest named “Carnival Against Capital” earlier that same day. People went to the nearest bank and started smashing windows according to John Zerzan, a prominent, Eugene-based anarchist thinker. Activist Rob los Ricos, who was present at the riot, ended up spending seven years in prison for hitting a cop in the shoulder with a rock.
“Nobody would have predicted that,” Zerzan said about the spontaneous downtown riot. “No anarchists were planning it, but it was called the ‘Anarchist Riot’ in the giant front page headline the next day.”
From the riot, two were hospitalized, more than 25 arrested and over a hundred left with minor throat and eye wounds caused from anti-riot tear gas, according to an Oregonian article published the day after.
