In May 1991, a female police officer shot and wounded a young immigrant from El Salvador in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood in Washington DC in the United States.

It sparked several days of disturbances in the largely Hispanic area, as the population vented its frustrations at years of feeling sidelined by city officials.

Shops were burnt down, cars overturned, and dozens of people were arrested before the police took back control of the streets. But for the first time, it gave visibility to a community that had been largely ignored.

Mike Lanchin hears from musician and former resident of Mount Pleasant, Victor ‘Lilo’ Gonzalez.

A CTVC production.

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(Photo: Marchers fill the streets in Mount Pleasant in Washington DC in 1991. Credit: Reuters)

Washington DC’s Mount Pleasant riot

Witness History