July Riots

The July Riots were a series of disturbances and outbreaks of civil unrest in July of 1982 in Namkwon in the leadup to the Blue Banner Rebellion. Factional competition between different groups within the ruling party, the Namkwok Revolutionary Front, in addition to high prices for food, helped precipitate the riots. The government was ineffective at quelling the violence, leading Songguo to send in more than 150,000 soldiers and nearly 35,000 Interior Security troops to help the Namkwok authorities restore order. Their heavy-handed crackdown and the perception that Tianjing was manipulating the Namkwok government as it pleased led to the Blue Banner Rebellion, in which the most liberal wing of the NRF led uprisings against the Songhua-backed centrist and hardliner elements of the regime.