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Topic: December 25th riot at the Edge 12 in Birmingham AL.
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Mike Rivest
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 185
From: Montréal QC Canada
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 12-30-2011 06:58 PM
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/12/rowdy_christmas_day_crowd_forc.html
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A crowd of young people -- possibly drawn though social media -- interrupted the movies at The Edge 12 Movie Theater and were disruptive outside in the parking lot of Festival Shopping Center on Crestwood Boulevard Sunday night.
About 400 people were involved, with 200 of them really disruptive, Birmingham Police East Precinct commander Capt. Allen Hatcher said Tuesday, based on reports he got from the off-duty Birmingham police officer who worked security at the theater that night.
Movie-goer Shannon Webster, pastor of First Presbyterian Church downtown, said he counted 18 police cars when he and his family were told to leave the theater, part-way through seeing "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows."
"I was surprised," he said. "I did not expect to see that on Christmas night, going out to the movies."
Hatcher said that a large group of youths had showed up in the theater and the parking lot Sunday and started to cause problems and disruptions. When theater management confronted them, they grew more disruptive and management shut all the movies down.
Hatcher said some youths out in the parking lot banged on windows of nearby businesses, pushed some shopping carts into the parking lot, and went inside a Chinese restaurant. The off-duty officer put out a call, and police responded with a large contingent.
No one, to his knowledge, Hatcher said, was hurt or arrested, but a window was damaged at the Radio Shack store. The off-duty officer said that youths had heard on Facebook there was going to be a fight.
Hatcher said he recalled Trussville having a similar social media mob at a movie theater more than a year ago.
Webster said he had arrived at the Edge 12 about 7 with his wife and two adult children. When he arrived, there were "a lot of really young kids were crowded inside, milling around."
During the movie, some came into the theater and started making noise, but one of the other movie-goers ordered them out in a commanding voice, Webster said.
"There were hundreds of kids in the lobby," he said.
Webster saw security guards handcuffing several. He thought the crowd of youths ranged in age from 13 to their early 20s.
The outside scene seemed tense, said Webster, who has done church work in places such as the Gaza Strip, Northern Ireland, Cuba, Guatemala, and Communist Eastern Europe.
"Usually there is nothing going on there on Sunday afternoon," Hatcher said of the shopping center. "I believe social media made it a big event."
Efforts to reach the management of Edge 12 for comment were unsuccessful.
Webster said Sunday night was the only time he had ever felt unsafe there, and he plans to return to the movies.
"I don't want it to keep me from going back to the theater, because I think it's important for the neighborhood and for East Birmingham," said Webster, who lives in Crestwood. "We need them there, so I will continue to go there.
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Mike Rivest
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 185
From: Montréal QC Canada
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 01-09-2012 06:58 PM
You are right:
Wikipedia:
The Roman Catholic Church seized upon the tragedy of the Laurier Palace Theatre as an opportunity to block children's access to the cinema in general, claiming that the cinema ruined the health of children, weakened their lungs, troubled their imagination, excited their nervous system, hindered their studies, overexcited their sinful ideas and led to immorality ("ruine la santé des enfants, affaiblit leurs poumons, affole leur imagination, excite leur système nerveux, nuit à leurs études, surexcite les désirs mauvais et conduit à l'immoralité").
A few months later Judge Louis Boyer recommended that everyone under 16 be forbidden access to cinema screenings. The following year, to appease extremists who wanted the cinema closed to all, such a law was passed[citation needed] and remained in effect for 33 years, until 1961. Building codes were also modified so that the doors of public buildings were required to open outwards.
In 1967 the cinema law was further modified, installing the Visa system, dividing movie-going populations into age groups of 18 and over, 14 and over, and general (for all). This change of law coincided with Expo 67 in Montreal, a time of rapid evolution of attitudes as the city began to open itself to the world.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UW4tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6osFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5875%2C1452859
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