ing the riot at the Forum, but the agitators, thus slowing their reaction outnumbered them. The rioters were nearly 10,000 and the police only had 200 agents on the scene (Zacharias, 2000).“The Richard Riot” was one of the biggest manifestations that Montreal had ever seen. The rioters destroyed many stores on St. Catherine Street, overturned cars and set numerous fires. Around 3 a.m. the police finally calmed the crowds, but the destruction was tremendous. This phenomenon is easily explained using Smelser’s theory of collective behavior in which six factors are combined to result in the final event, in this case the Maurice Richard riot of 1955....
