It really stank. I've never had snot pour out of my nose like that, and I didn't even go outside!

Here are some videos, for some reason nothing happens until after halfway in them

http://www.msu.edu/~graboall/finalfour.htm

So what was this "riot" all about anyway? All I see is a lot of people on a street close to a Mc Donald's restaurant, and suddenly the smoke/tear gas is spreading out. Why?

Well that's the biggest thing right now, many are saying the police overreacted. The crowd was throwing bottles and lighting fires, after the tear gas was starting to get shot off. Michigan law states that 5 or more people with intent to cause damage is a 'riot', thus the police say they acted within bounds. Of course it ended up not just gassing the people outside, but most of the city. After a while there was just an ambient gas burn in the air.

So what was the crowd doing there in the first place?

Eh? I haven't heard about that at all, so please explain, please...

Ok here is some background on the city and riots:

1999:
The basketball team is eliminated in the second to last round of the national tournament. 20,000 people pour into the streets and shit hits the fan. Police cars are overturned and set on fire, as well as other cars. Store fronts are blown out and raided. Fires are started and the police are caught totally off guard, and spend most of the night retaking the city.

2000:
The basketball team wins the national championship and this time 15,000 people hit the streets. The police appear, but not in riot gear. Everyone is jovial and just sing songs, there is no damage.

2003:
The basketball team is eliminated rather early and had no prospects of doing any good. 5,000 people take to the streets. The police are out but their plan is terrible, they gas one side of the crowd and leave the opening to the university campus unprotected. Crowds run through the university setting dumpster fires and tipping over coke machines.

2005:
The basketball team is eliminated in the second to last round again. Only 3,000 people over a two mile stretch come out and start breaking beer bottles on the ground (which happens every weekend). Police line the sidewalk across the whole city in riot gear hours before the game ends. Unexpectedly they start shooting tear gas into the crowds (as small as four people) and use as much tear gas as the 1999 riots. Many people are injured since some of the cannisters come in at head level from only feet away.

I honestly don't know why they decided to start using the gas. I hate when drunk people riot over sports but the police acted very strangely.

So, to sum this up, it was basically some drunk people with nothing better to do than getting overly excited about sports (as if there's nothing more important in life) and the police acting as usual. Good to know some things are universally true all over the world...