Editing Black bloc (section)

====North America====
[[File:M2109 Iraq War Protest (Black Bloc Element).jpg|thumb|Black bloc members spray graffiti on a wall during the [[Protests against the Iraq War#March 21, 2009|Iraq War protest]] in Washington, D.C., on 21 March 2009.]]
The first prominent use of the tactic in United States of America occurred at the Pentagon, in Washington, D.C., on 17 October 1988, although anarchists had been using similar tactics in small numbers in preceding years in places like San Francisco, culminating with several hundred anarchists in black smashing glass store fronts and attacking vehicles in the [[Berkeley Anarchist Riot of 1989|Berkeley Anarchist Riot]] of 1989.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://larrylivermore.com/2011/08/19/1989-the-anarchists-riot-in-berkeley/|title=1989: The Anarchists Riot In Berkeley|date= 19 August 2011|author=Livermore, Larry}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/333-winter-1990/anarchy-in-san-francisco/|title=Anarchy in San Francisco|author=Brubaker, Bob|display-authors=etal|date=Winter 1990}}</ref> In D.C., over one thousand demonstrators—a small number consisting of a black bloc—called for the end to U.S. support for right wing death squads in El Salvador.<ref>See The Black Bloc Papers, page 35, Breaking Glass Press, Shawnee Mission, KS, 2010</ref> A black bloc caused damage to property of [[Gap (clothing retailer)|GAP]], [[Starbucks]], [[Old Navy]], and other retail locations in downtown Seattle during the 1999 [[WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity|anti-WTO demonstrations]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Rick Anderson |url=http://archive.seattleweekly.com/1999-12-22/news/delta-s-down-with-it/ |title=Delta's down with it – Page 1 |work=Seattle Weekly |date=22 December 1999 |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409155843/http://archive.seattleweekly.com/1999-12-22/news/delta-s-down-with-it/ |archive-date=9 April 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> They were a common feature of subsequent [[anti-globalization]] protests.<ref>{{Cite book
|last= Fernandez
|first= Luis A.
|title= Policing Dissent: Social Control and the Anti-globalization Movement
|year= 2008
|publisher= Rutgers University Press
|page= 59
}}</ref>

In the years after the end of the Vietnam War, protest in the US came to assume more legalistic, orderly forms, and was increasingly dominated by the middle-class.<ref>Doug McAdam, et al. [http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/sampson/files/2005_mobilization.pdf "There Will Be Fighting in the Streets: The Distorting Lens of Social Movement Theory"], ''Mobilization: An International Journal'' 10(1): 1-18.</ref> This corresponded with the rise of a highly effective police strategy of [[crowd control]] called "negotiated management".<ref>McPhail, Clark, David Schweingruber and John McCarthy. 1998. [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dschwein/policing.pdf "Policing Protest in the United States: 1960-1995"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504232229/http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dschwein/policing.pdf |date=4 May 2013 }}, pp. 49-69, in [[Donatella della Porta|della Porta, Donatella]] and Herbert Reiter (eds), ''Policing Protest: The Control of Mass Demonstrations in Western Democracies''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.</ref> Many social scientists have noted the "institutionalization of movements" in this period.<ref>Doug McAdam, et al. "There Will Be Fighting in the Streets: The Distorting Lens of Social Movement Theory", ''Mobilization: An International Journal'' 10(1): 1-18.</ref> These currents largely constrained disruptive protest until 1999. In an unprecedented success for post-Vietnam era civil disobedience, the WTO Ministerial Conference opening ceremonies were shut down completely, host city Seattle declared a state of emergency for nearly a week, multilateral trade negotiations between the wealthy and developing nations collapsed, and all of this was done without fatalities. This occurred in the midst of mass rioting which had been set off by militant anarchists, some of them in a black bloc formation.<ref>[http://depts.washington.edu/wtohist/day2.htm "Day 2- November 30, 1999"], WTO History Project, University of Washington.</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/544135.stm "Seattle Declares Civil Emergency"], BBC News, 1 December 1999.</ref><ref>John Vidal, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/dec/05/wto.globalisation "The real battle of Seattle"], ''The Guardian'', 5 December 1999.</ref>

The call for the Seattle protest had originally come from [[Peoples' Global Action]] (a network co-founded by the [[EZLN|Zapatistas]]) which supported [[diversity of tactics]] and a highly flexible definition of nonviolence.<ref>Geov Parrish, [http://www.seattleweekly.com/1999-11-17/news/beyond-gandhi "Beyond Gandhi"], ''The Seattle Weekly'', 17 November 1999.</ref> In the aftermath of the shutdown, however, various NGO spokespeople associated with Seattle DAN claimed that the riotous aspect of the WTO protests was counterproductive and undemocratic. They also asserted that it was only an insignificantly small group from Eugene, Oregon that engaged in property destruction. [[Medea Benjamin]] told ''The New York Times'' that "These anarchists should have been arrested",<ref>Alexander Cockburn and our readers, [http://www.thenation.com/article/wto-workers-world-united "WTO: Workers of the World United?"] ''The Nation'', 14 February 2000.</ref><ref>Timothy Egan, [https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/02/world/talks-and-turmoil-the-violence-black-masks-lead-to-pointed-fingers-in-seattle.html "Black masks lead to pointed fingers in Seattle"], ''The New York Times'', 2 December 1999.</ref> while [[Lori Wallach]] of [[Public Citizen]] stated that she had instructed Teamsters to assault black bloc participants.<ref>[http://www.citizen.org/documents/Lori's%20War.pdf "Lori's War"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304002704/http://www.citizen.org/documents/Lori's%20War.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }}, ''Foreign Policy'', Spring 2000, p. 49.</ref> [[Barbara Ehrenreich]] decried the NGO leaders as "hypocrites", and wrote that nonviolent activists ought to be "treating the young rock-throwers like sisters and brothers in the struggle." She also criticized the dominant nonviolent paradigm as "absurdly ritualized".<ref>Barbara Ehrenreich, [http://www.alternet.org/story/9309/flip_side%3A_anarkids_and_hypocrites "Anarkids and Hyprocrites"], ''The Progressive'', June 2000.</ref> The solution to Ehrenreich's impasse was the growing acceptance of black bloc tactics in the anti-globalization movement.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQSaAAAAQBAJ&q=ehrenreich.%20black%20bloc&pg=PA108|title=Understanding Occupy from Wall Street to Portland: Applied Studies in Communication Theory|last1=Heath|first1=Renee Guarriello|last2=Fletcher|first2=Courtney Vail|last3=Munoz|first3=Ricardo|date=2013-08-29|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9780739183229|pages=108–109|language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/pga/hallm.htm "Hallmarks of People's Global Action (amended at the 3rd PGA conference at Cochamamba, 2001)".]</ref><ref>Cindy Milstein, [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27d/055.html "Something Did Start in Quebec City: North America's Revolutionary Anti-Capitalist Movement"], Institute for Social Ecology, 13 June 2001.</ref>

During [[2010 G20 Toronto summit protests|protests against]] the [[2010 G20 Toronto summit|2010 G20 summit]] in [[Toronto]], a black bloc riot damaged a number of retail locations including an [[Urban Outfitters]], [[American Apparel]], [[Adidas]] Store, Starbucks and many banking establishments.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{cite web |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |url=http://news.ca.msn.com/canada/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=24700313 |title=G20 protest brings violence, arrests |work=MSN |access-date=27 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629073427/http://news.ca.msn.com/canada/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=24700313 |archive-date=29 June 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="CP24">{{cite web| agency=The Canadian Press | url=http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100626/100626_blackbloc/20100626/?hub=CP24Home | title=Violent Black Bloc tactics hit Toronto during G20 protest | date=26 June 2010 | access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Inauguration Day Marchers.jpg|thumb|Black bloc anarchist protest in Washington, D.C., on J20 on a [[United states civil war|Civil War]] monument.]]
On the day of President [[Donald Trump]]'s [[First inauguration of Donald Trump|inauguration in 2017]], black bloc groups were present among other protests in Washington, D.C., and other places. The groups engaged in vandalism, rioting, and violence.<ref name="DwyerDomonokse">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/20/510770716/in-d-c-group-of-protesters-breaks-windows-police-use-pepper-spray|title=In D.C., Group of Protesters Breaks Windows; Police Use Pepper Spray|last1=Dwyer|first1=Colin|last2=Domonokse|first2=Camila|date=20 January 2017|publisher=NPR}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/20/anti-donald-trump-activists-try-block-access-inauguration/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/20/anti-donald-trump-activists-try-block-access-inauguration/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Donald Trump Protests: Limo 'Set on Fire' and 217 Arrested as Police use Tear Gas on Black-Clad Activists|last1=Lawler|first1=David|date=21 January 2017|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=20 January 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> At least 217 were arrested and six police officers sustained minor injuries, and at least one other person was injured.<ref name="DwyerDomonokse" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/trump-inauguration-protests-womens-march/|title=Police Injured, More than 200 Arrested at Trump Inauguration Protests|last1=Krieg|first1=Gregory|date=21 January 2017|publisher=CNN|access-date=21 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2017/live-updates/politics/live-coverage-of-trumps-inauguration/black-bloc-style-tactics-seen-as-chaos-erupts-in-downtown-d-c/|title='Black bloc' style tactics seen as chaos erupts in downtown D.C.|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2017-01-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/rc_kris/status/822472326059069440|title=Kris Cruz on Twitter|website=Twitter|language=en|access-date=2017-01-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/inauguration-anti-donald-trump-protesters-smash-windows-clash-washington-dc-police-ceremony-a7538031.html|title=Video captures moment anti-Donald Trump protest violence erupts|date=2017-01-20|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=2017-01-21|language=en-GB}}</ref>

[[File:Berkeley 8 27 17-7123 (36887356645).jpg|thumb|Black bloc at Berkeley, California]]
In February 2017, an event at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] by commentator [[Milo Yiannopoulos]] was cancelled by college administrators after [[2017 Berkeley protests|protestors]] of a black bloc broke windows, shot fireworks, and caused a light fixture to catch fire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/us/milo-yiannopoulos-berkeley/index.html|title=Berkeley protests of Yiannopoulos caused $100,000 in damage|author=Madison Park and Kyung Lah|website=CNN|date=2 February 2017|access-date=2017-02-08}}</ref> The cancellation of the event brought mainstream attention to anarchism and black bloc tactics.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/us/anarchists-respond-to-trumps-inauguration-by-any-means-necessary.html|title=Anarchists Respond to Trump's Inauguration, by Any Means Necessary|last=Stockman|first=Farah|date=2017-02-02|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2017-02-08|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In May 2021, Portland protesters in black bloc turned out at multiple rallies and marches that marked the one-year anniversary of the [[murder of George Floyd]]. At one event the protesters wheeled a dumpster into the street and set its contents on fire, drawing police out. The rally was declared a riot by police.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Karina |title=Riot Declared in Portland Protest for George Floyd |work=Courthouse News Service |date=2021-05-26 |url=https://www.courthousenews.com/riot-declared-in-portland-protest-for-george-floyd/ |language=en-US |access-date=2022-04-06 }}</ref>