List of ethnic riots
This is a list of notable ethnic riots, sectarian riots, and race riots, by country.
Africa
Côte d'Ivoire
- 2004 French–Ivorian clashes
Egypt
- 1945 Anti-Jewish riots in Egypt
Lesotho
- Maseru – Anti-Chinese riot
Libya
- 1945 Anti-Jewish riots in Tripolitania
- 1948 Anti-Jewish riots in Tripolitania
Mauritius
- 1906 Pagoda riots
- 1911 Curepipe riots
- Uba riots of 1937
- 1943 Belle Vue Harel Massacre
- 1965 Mauritius race riots
- 1968 Mauritian riots
- 1999 Mauritian riots
- 1999 L'Amicale riots
Mauritania
- Mauritania – Mauritania–Senegal Border War. Included race riots in Mauritania
Rhodesia
- Kananga – Kananga Riot of 1925
South Africa
- Durban – Anti-Indian riots
- Durban – Anti-Indian riot
- Port Elizabeth – Anti-Somali riot
Tanzania
- Zanzibar – The Zanzibar Revolution of January 12, 1964
Americas
Brazil
- Rio de Janeiro – Anti-Portuguese riots
- Salvador – Anti-Portuguese riots
Canada
- 1784: Shelburne riots
- 1918 Toronto anti-Greek riot
- 1933: Toronto, Christie Pits riot
- 1907: Vancouver Anti-Oriental riots
Mexico
- Torreón massacre
Peru
- Afro-Peruvian massacre of Chinese coolies
- Indigenous uprising against White Peruvians
United States
Nativist Period: 1700s–1860
- 1824: Providence, Rhode Island Hard Scrabble Riots
- Cincinnati riots of 1829
- 1829: Charlestown Anti-Catholic Riots
- 1831: Providence, Rhode Island
- 1834: Massachusetts Convent Burning
- 1834: Philadelphia pro-slavery riots
- 1834: New York City pro-slavery riots
- 1835: Boston pro-slavery riots
- 1835: Five Points Riot
- 1835: Snow Riot, Washington, D.C.
- Cincinnati riots of 1836
- 1841: Cincinnati, Ohio White Irish-descendant and Irish immigrant dock workers rioted against Black dock workers.
- 1844: Philadelphia Nativist Riots
- 1851: Hoboken Anti-German Riot
- 1855: Louisville Anti-German Riots
Civil War Period: 1861–1865
Reconstruction Period: 1865–1877
Jim Crow Period: 1878–1914
- 1885: Anti-Chinese riot in Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory
- 1886: Seattle riot of 1886
- 1898: Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, white Democrats overthrew elected government and attacked blacks
- 1898: Lake City, South Carolina
- 1898: Greenwood County, South Carolina
- 1900: Robert Charles Riots
- 1900: New York City
- 1904: Springfield, Ohio Race Riot
- 1906: Springfield, Ohio Race Riot
- 1906: Atlanta Race Riot, whites against African Americans
- 1906: Brownsville, Texas
- 1907: Onancock, Virginia
- 1907: Pacific Coast Race Riots of 1907
- 1908: Springfield Race Riot of 1908
- 1909: Omaha, Nebraska anti-Greek riot
- 1910: Nationwide riots following the heavyweight championship fight between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries in Reno, Nevada on July 4
- 1910: Slocum, Texas
War and inter-war period: 1914–1945
- 1917: East St. Louis Riot
- 1917: 1917 Chester race riot
- 1917: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1917: Houston Riot
- Red Summer of 1919
- *1919: Washington, D.C.
- *1919: Chicago Race Riot of 1919
- *1919: Omaha Race Riot of 1919
- *1919: Charleston riot of 1919
- *1919: Longview race riot
- *1919: Knoxville Riot of 1919
- *1919: Elaine Race Riot
- 1920: Ocoee Massacre
- 1921: Tulsa race massacre
- 1921: Springfield, Ohio Race Riot
- 1923: Rosewood massacre
- 1927: Yakima Valley Anti-Filipino Riot
- 1928: Wenatchee Valley Anti-Filipino Riot
- 1929: Exeter Anti-Filipino Riot
- 1930: Watsonville Riots, Anti-Filipino riot which inspired race riots in San Francisco, Salinas and San Jose and attacks elsewhere.
- 1935: Harlem Riot of 1935
- 1943: Detroit Race Riot
- 1943: Beaumont Race Riot of 1943
- 1943: Harlem Riot of 1943
- 1943: Zoot Suit Riots
- 1944: Agana race riot
Postwar era: 1946–1954
- 1946: Columbia, Tennessee Riot
- 1949: Peekskill Riots
- 1951: Cicero Race Riot in Illinois
Civil Rights and Black Power Movement's Period: 1955–1977
- 1958: Battle of Hayes Pond
- 1962: Ole Miss riot, Oxford, Mississippi
- 1963: Birmingham Riot of 1963, Birmingham, Alabama
- 1963: Cambridge riot of 1963
- 1963: Lexington Riot, Lexington, North Carolina
- 1964: Harlem Riot of 1964
- 1964: Rochester riot
- 1964: Philadelphia 1964 race riot
- 1965: Watts Riots
- 1966: Division Street Riots
- 1966: Hough Riots
- 1966: North Omaha, Nebraska
- Long Hot Summer of 1967
- * 1967: Roxbury riots
- * 1967: Tampa riots
- * 1967: Texas Southern University Riot
- * 1967: 1967 Detroit riot
- * 1967: Buffalo riot
- * 1967: Milwaukee Riot
- * 1967: Minneapolis North Side Riots
- * 1967: 1967 Newark riots
- * 1967: Plainfield riots
- * 1967: Cincinnati riots
- Protests of 1968
- * 1968: Orangeburg massacre
- 1968: King assassination riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
- * 1968: Baltimore riot of 1968
- * 1968: Chicago West Side riots
- * 1968: Louisville riots of 1968
- * 1968: 1968 Washington, D.C. riots
- * 1968: 1968 Wilmington riots
- 1968: Glenville shootout and riot
- 1969: 1969 York Race Riot
- 1969: Stonewall Riot
- 1970: May 11 Race Riot
- 1970: Jackson State killings
- 1971: Camden riots
- 1972–1977: Escambia High School riots
- 1972: USS Kitty Hawk Riot ; October 12–13
- 1975: Chaffey High School Race Riot enhanced by local sniper
1978 to today
- 1978: Houston's Moody Park on the first anniversary of Joe Campos Torres death.
- 1979: Great Brook Valley Projects Riots Worcester, Massachusetts, Puerto Ricans rioted
- 1980: Miami riots : Reactions following the acquittal of four Miami-Dade Police officers in the death of Arthur McDuffie.
- 1980: Chattanooga Riot
- 1984: Lawrence, Massachusetts Race Riot: A small scale riot centered at the intersection of Haverhill and railroad streets between working class whites and Hispanics; several buildings were destroyed by Molotov cocktails; August 8, 1984.
- 1989: Overtown Riot After a black motorcyclist was shot by a Hispanic police officer in the predominantly black community of Overtown, residents rioted for two nights. The officer was later convicted of manslaughter.
- 1990: Wynwood riot Puerto Ricans rioted after a jury acquitted six officers accused of beating a Puerto Rican drug dealer to death
- 1991: Crown Heights riot, black anti-Jewish mob killed 2, injured 190.
- 1992: Los Angeles riots : In reaction to the acquittal of all four LAPD officers involved in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, in addition to the Korean involved in the murder of Latasha Harlins; riots broke out mainly involving black and Latino youths in the black neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles and Korean-American neighborhood of Koreatown before spreading to the rest of the city
- 1996: St. Petersburg riots : After Officer Jim Knight stopped 18 yr. old Tyron Lewis for speeding, he claimed to accidentally fire his weapon, fatally wounding the black teenager. Riots broke out, lasting 2 days.
- 2001: Cincinnati riots : In a reaction to the fatal shooting of an unarmed young black male, Timothy Thomas by Cincinnati police officer Steven Roach, riots broke out over the span of a few days.
- 2003: Benton Harbor riots
- 2005: 2005 Toledo riot : A race riot that broke out after a planned Neo-Nazi protest march through a black neighborhood.
- 2006: Fontana High School riot : Riot involving about 500 Latino and black students
- 2006: Prison Race Riots : A war between Latino and black prison gangs set off a series of riots across California
- 2008: Locke High School riot
- 2009: 2009 Oakland riots : Peaceful protests turned into rioting after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Oscar Grant, by a BART transit policeman.
- 2014–2015: The Ferguson unrest, a series of riots break out in Ferguson, Missouri over the shooting of Michael Brown.
- * August 2014: riots for two weeks after the initial shooting of Michael Brown.
- * Late November and early December 2014: riots for one week after the police officer who shot Michael Brown was not indicted.
- * August 2015: riots for two days during the anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown.
- 2015: The Death of Freddie Gray was an incident in which a suspect died in police custody and later protests turned into riots in Baltimore.
- 2016: The Shooting of Abdullahi Omar Mohamed sparked riots on the night of the shooting.
- 2020: The Death of George Floyd caused days of rioting in the Minneapolis-St Paul, MN metro area. This has further spread to the cities of NYC, LA, San Jose, San Francisco, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Washington DC, Charlottesville, Charlotte, Baltimore, Portland, Dallas, Denver, St Louis, Oakland, Cincinnati, Bakersfield, Seattle, Boston, Memphis, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Columbus, Kansas City, Sacramento, Omaha, Louisville, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Fort Worth, Richmond, Philadelphia, Visalia, Nashville, Buffalo, Rochester, Orlando, Tampa, San Diego, San Antonio, Seattle, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Miami, Norfolk, Reno, Madison, Charleston, Santa Monica, Houston, Paducah and many other major cities within the US.
Asia
Azerbaijan
- Sumgait pogrom, Anti-Armenian pogrom
- Kirovabad pogrom, Anti-Armenian pogrom
- Baku pogrom, Anti-Armenian pogrom
Bangladesh
- Noakhali riot
- 1950 Barisal Riots
- 1964 East-Pakistan riots
- Bangladesh – 1990 Bangladesh anti-Hindu violence
- Hathazari – 2012 Hathazari violence
- Ramu – 2012 Ramu violence
- Bangladesh – 2013 Bangladesh anti-Hindu violence
- Bangladesh – 2014 Bangladesh anti-Hindu violence
Burma
- 1930 Rangoon riots – Anti-Indian riots
- Mandalay – Anti-Muslim Riots
- Taungoo – Anti-Muslim Riots
China
- Nanjing anti-African protests – Nanjing
- Ghulja Incident, Xinjiang, China
- 2002 Yizhou riots – Yizhou riots
- 2008 Tibetan unrest – Tibet, China
- 2008 Uyghur unrest
- June 2009 Shaoguan incident – Guangdong, China
- July 2009 Ürümqi riots – Xinjiang, China
Fiji
- Fiji - Anti-Indian riots
Indonesia
- Indonesia – Anti-Chinese riots
- Jakarta, Surakarta – Anti-Chinese riots
Israel
- Acre, Israel – Sectarian violence erupted on 8 October 2008 turning into 5 days of violence after an Arab Israeli citizen drove through a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood during Yom Kippur.
- Tel Aviv – Race riots by Jewish Israelis against black African immigrants took place in May 2012 after the rape of an elderly woman, and an under age Israeli girl by South Sudanese men in front of her boyfriend.
- Tel Aviv – After an Ethiopian-born IDF officer was beaten by an Israeli police officer and police volunteer, protests in Tel Aviv against racism and police brutality turned violent, with injuries among protesters and police.
Malaysia
- Kuala Lumpur – May 13 Incident
- 2001 Kampung Medan riots
Pakistan
- Sectarian violence in Pakistan
Palestine (British Mandate)
- Nebi Musa riots – Anti-Jewish riots by Arabs in Jerusalem
- Jaffa riots – Anti-Jewish riots by Arabs in Jaffa
- 1929 Palestine riots – Anti-Jewish riots by Arabs in Hebron, Safed, Jerusalem and Jaffa
- 1933 Palestine riots – Anti-Jewish riots due to Jewish immigration
- 1947 Jerusalem riots – Anti-Jewish riots by Arabs in Jerusalem
Singapore
- Singapore – Maria Hertogh riots
- Singapore – 1964 race riots in Singapore
- Singapore – 1969 Race Riots of Singapore
- Singapore – 2013 Little India Riot
Sri Lanka
- 1958 riots in Ceylon – Anti-Tamil riot
- 1977 riots in Sri Lanka – Anti-Tamil riot
- Black July - Anti-Tamil riot
- 1915 Sinhalese-Muslim riots – Nationwide
- Gal Oya riots – 1956, Ampara District
- Burning of Jaffna library – 1981, Jaffna
- 2000 Bundarawela riots – Mawanella
- 2006 riots – Trincomalee, Galle
Europe
Belgium
- Antwerp – Antwerp pogrom
- Brussels – 2006 Brussels riots
Bulgaria
- Sofia – Romani riots
Denmark
- St. Croix riot – St. Croix Agricultural labor rioted against landlords and labor laws.
- Jewish skirmishes – Various Danish and German cities and towns.
France
- Perpignan – Perpignan Riots between Maghrebi and Romani communities after a man of Maghrebi descent was shot dead.
- Avignon – between Turkish and Moroccan youths
- Ajaccio, Corsica – 2015 Corsican protests between locals and immigrants.
Germany
- Kristallnacht - Anti-Jewish riots
- The Neo-Nazi marches in Dresden have sparked many riots as recently as August 2015.
Italy
- Milan – Milan Chinese riot
- Rosarno – African immigrants riots
- Bari – African immigrants
- Lampedusa – African immigrants riots
- Sassari – Refugees refuse to reside in provided buildings
- Sesto Fiorentino – Chinese riots against Arab immigrants and refugees
- Florence – Senegal community riot the city
Poland
- Przytyk pogrom – anti-Jewish riots in Przytyk, on March 9, 1936
- Kraków pogrom – anti-Jewish riots that occurred on August 11, 1945, in the city of Kraków
- Kielce pogrom – an outbreak of violence against the Jewish community of Kielce, Poland on July 4, 1946
- Mława pogrom – a series of violent incidents in June 1991, when a crowd attacked Roma residents of the Polish town of Mława
- Ełk riots – During the New Year's Eve, a Polish man was stabbed to death by a Tunisian man - incident sparked the riots.
Russia
- Anti-Jewish pogroms
- Kondopoga – Anti-immigrant riots in Kondopoga, Karelia, Russia
- Moscow – Anti-immigrant riots on the Manezhnaya Square, Moscow, Russia
- Moscow – Anti-immigrant riots in Biryulyovo district of Moscow
Soviet Union
- Sumgait Massacre – anti-Armenian riots in Azerbaijan SSR during February 1988
- Uzbek SSR – After bloody riots against the Meskhetian Turks in Central Asia's Fergana Valley, nearly 90,000 Meskhetian Turks left Uzbekistan
- Dushanbe riots – anti-Armenian unrest in Dushanbe, the capital of the Tajik SSR, from February 12–14, 1990.
- Osh riots – an ethnic conflict between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that took place in June 1990 in the Kyrgyz SSR
Spain
- Almería – Spain's race riots
- Madrid – Madrid Riots
- Roquetas de Mar, Almeria – Riot between Senegalese and Roma families
- Salou – African Riot
Turkey
- Eastern Thrace –, anti-Jewish pogrom.
- Istanbul – Istanbul Riots, also known as Istanbul Pogrom.
Ukraine
- Odessa pogrom - Anti-Jewish riot
- Kiev pogrom - Anti-Jewish riot
- Odessa pogrom - Anti-Jewish riot
- Chernihiv pogrom - Anti-Jewish riot
- Kiev pogrom - Anti-Jewish riot
- Lwów pogrom - Anti-Jewish riot
- Lwów pogrom - Anti-Jewish riot
- Kiev pogroms - Anti-Jewish riots
- Lviv pogroms - Anti-Jewish riot
United Kingdom
- South Shields – South Shields
- Cardiff – Cardiff riots 1919
- Liverpool – Liverpool riot 1919
- London – Stepney
- London – St Anne Street
- London – Cable Street
- London – Poplar
- Birkenhead – Anti-Jewish riots
- Liverpool – Liverpool riot 1948
- Nottingham – Nottingham riot 1958
- London – 1958 Notting Hill race riots
- Leeds – 1975 Chapeltown riot
- London – 1976 Notting Hill race riots
- London – Southall race riot
- Bristol – 1980 St. Pauls riot
- London – 1981 Brixton riot
- Liverpool – 1981 Toxteth riots
- Birmingham – 1985 Handsworth riots
- Leeds – 1981 Chapeltown Caribbean riot
- Manchester – Moss Side
- London – Peckham riot
- London – 1985 Brixton riot
- London – Broadwater Farm riot
- Leeds – 1987 Chapeltown riot
- Dewsbury – 1989 Dewsbury riot
- North Shields – Benwell and The Meadow Well riots
- Oldham – 2001 Oldham riots
- Burnley – Burnley Riots
- Bradford – 2001 Bradford riots
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Birmingham – 2005 Birmingham riots
- London – 2011 London riots
Oceania
Australia
- Buckland Valley – Buckland Riot
- Burrangong – Lambing Flat riots
- Broome – Broome riots
- Anti-Greek riots in Perth in 1915 and in Kalgoorlie in 1916
- 2004 Redfern riots
- Palm Island – Palm Island death in custody riot
- 2005 Cronulla riots
New Zealand
- Wellington – Battle of Manners Street, involved American servicemen and New Zealand servicemen
Solomon Islands
- Honiara – Anti-Chinese riots
Tonga
- Nukuʻalofa – Anti-Chinese riots