US: The Multiculture bites...back

Repeated melees could spell the end of a popular Caribbean festival in Oakland, city officials said Tuesday after the popular Memorial Day event ended in violence for the fourth straight year.

The Carijama Festival outside Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza went smoothly but degenerated into looting at a nearby restaurant and gunfire Monday evening along Broadway, prompting Oakland police to fire tear gas to break up unruly crowds, authorities said.

A canister of gas was fired to scatter revelers looting a chicken vendor's van at Frank Ogawa Plaza, and a second canister was used to disperse a crowd as two women fought outside the Wendy's restaurant on Broadway at 15th Street, a block away. One woman was shoved through the restaurant's plate- glass window.

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