General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 300+ teens attack pedestrians on Chicago's Magnificent mile. 28 arrested [View all]freshwest
(53,661 posts)They appear to be spontaneous but they are individuals who meet online and arrange to be somewhere in such numbers that they overwhelm the police or victims. That's why there is now surveliance of the Facebook IM and Twitter messaging.
There was a riot in Canada a while back where people were twittering and uploading to youtube as they were breaking into places. There were so many police couldn't stop them and ended up just plowing through all of them, innocent and hoodlums. Many were arrested later from what they'd sent to friends bragging about it.
This has happened more than once in the USA in stores or public places. I suspect it's worldwide. Most likely these people didn't know each other, just decided to all meet and start up.
JMHO.