2002 Paradise City Anti-LGBT Protests

2002 Paradise City Anti-LGBT Protests
A damaged police car during the 2002 protests near the Monsan embassy
Date	02 December, 2002
Location	Paradise City, Blackhelm Confederacy
Caused by	Legalization of gay marriage in Monsa
Methods	Rioting, assault, arson
Parties to the civil conflict
Anti-gay pride and anti-government protesters Football supporters (Ultras, Hooligans) Nationalists Others Blackhelm Confederacy Paradise City Police Monsa
Casualties
Injuries	95
Arrested	200+

The 2002 Paradise City Anti-LGBT Protests was an incident of civil unrest outside of the Monsan embassy in Paradise City as a result of the Principality of Monsa becoming the first nation in Astyria to recognize gay marriage. Anti-LGBT and anti-government protestors clashed with Paradise City police and Monsan security forces in and around the Platea Monsa for several hours, resulting in dozens of injuries, hundreds of arrests and millions of dollars worth of damage to the city and embassy.

Background

Following the 1984 elections in Monsa, the center-left party known as the Monsan Alliance came to become the dominant political party within the Principality. Over the next decade, the party began steadily enacting more and more left-leaning political policies, culminating in the highly controversial decision to legalize same-sex marriages in 2002.

On Hesperidesia, the Hesperidesian Revolutions steadily sapped the strength of the Empire of Exponent, ultimately leading to that nation's collapse in 1996. While  the Blackhelm Confederacy asserted its position as the Empire's successor, there was widespread discontent in many portions of the new nation about the loss of overseas influence and the removal of the Imperial Royal Family from power. For many, the increasingly left-leaning policies of Monsa - long seen as a "little brother" to the Empire - was emblematic of the Blackhelm Confederacy's weakness and inability to reassert the power and influence that Exponent had wielded.

Events

The Monsan embassy became the site of violent protests after the Monsan government announced that it would become one of the first in the region to legalize same-sex marriages. At around 12:00 on Dec. 2, just a day after the Monsan government announced their decision, crowds began to gather at the embassy with ringleaders charging that the Monsan government was ushering in a new era of debauchery, and many attempted to gain access to the palace building. The crowd was augmented by a number of anti-govenrment and pro-monarchy protestors, who felt that the Blackhelm Confederacy was illegitamate and was causing the people of Hesperidesia to lose power and influence abroad.

Members of the Carabiniers of Monsa, who were employed as security at the embassy, swiftly moved to meet the protesters armed with riot shields and tear gas, and fighting broke out at approximately 13:45. During the ensuing clash, several protestors were injured but the Caribiniers were able to maintain their positions outside the embassy. Local Paradise City Police responded to the situation within minutes after the crowd's gathering, but were unable to get to the embassy due to the mob occupying the surrounding streets, and with the crowds being relatively peaceful for the first hour of the gathering opted not to engage in order to maintain the peace.

At roughly 14:05 officers finally began to do battle with the crowd after realizing that protestors were engaged with Monsan security. The charge by the policed confined the mob between them and the Monsan Carabiniers, and many crowd members decided to break into the buildings around the platea and stores along the surrounding streets in an attempt to escape the tear gas and clubs of the officers. After nearly an hour of street fighting, organizers of the crowd managed to pull together enough individuals to charge the line of Paradise City police officers at the north end of Via Marius VIII, causing the heaviest fighting of the day. In total, two protestors were killed and dozens of officers and protestors were injured in the melee that followed.

Aftermath

By the nightfall, the police had apprehended hundreds of individuals in connection to the riot, and several million dollars in damage was done to the high-end shops along the street where the riot took place. The government of the Blackhelm Confederacy issued a formal apology on behalf of the nation for the damge done to the embassy, and additional police patrols were added to the area around the Platea Monsa.