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Bell Riots

The Bell Riots begin

The Bell Riots were a pivotal historical event on Earth in 2024. Started in San Francisco's Sanctuary District A, the riots and resulting after effects would help set the tone for the future of Humanity.

Prelude

By the year 2020, the American government, reacting to serious problems of homelessness and unemployment, created special Sanctuary Districts, essentially walled off sections of a city grid, in most major cities. Unfortunately, while established with the benevolent intent of providing free housing and food, as well as prospects for future employment, the sanctuaries, with little police protection and continuing cut-backs, quickly degenerated into inhumane internment camps for the poor. Even though people with criminal records were not allowed inside the sanctuaries, it didn't take long for the homeless and unemployed to be joined by the mentally ill and other, more violent, social outcasts. These groups would later be referred to by their slang terms, Gimmies, Dims, and Ghosts.

By late 2024, the 20 by 20 block grid that made up Sanctuary District A had become a overcrowded slum. With the records of people inside the sanctuaries not uploaded to the net, and therefor not accessible using an Interface, the true conditions inside the sanctuaries were unknown to the general public. American society believed that, despite the political upheaval affecting Europe at the time, the United States was stable and had found a way to successfully deal with the social problems that had been the genesis of the sanctuaries. A 'out of sight, out of mind' mentality had set in.

Inside Sanctuary District A,

Riot

Bell takes over processing center

"Gabriel Bell" and his accomplices take over the Sanctuary District A processing center

Bell Riots hostages

Hostages in the processing center

Early in the morning on September 1, 2024, the conditions surrounding the distribution of food rations sparked a riot where ghosts attacked the guards, quickly capturing the Sanctuary Processing Center nd the rest of the district. Armed with the weapons of their overpowered guards, they took six center employees hostage.


With the help of Jadzia Dax, a Starfleet officer from the 24th century who had been stranded in the past, the residents managed to gain access to Earth's planetary computer network, and many were able to tell their stories of imprisonment to the outside world. As a result, the American public became aware of the great injustice that had been hidden from them.

File:Bell Riots - SFPD.jpg

The San Francisco Police Department SWAT team enters the Sanctuary District A Processing Center

In an attempt to end the riots and re-capture the processing center, the governor of California ordered National Guardsmen to retake the processing center by force. Hundreds of Sanctuary residents were killed, including one of the riot leaders, Gabriel Bell, who was replaced by Benjamin Sisko, also stranded in the past with Dax. Knowing that history had recorded Bell's death as a sacrifice to protect the hostages, none of whom were killed, Sisko determined that in order to preserve the timeline the sacrifice of his own life might be necessary. However, in actuality Sisko/Bell survived the attack but left the impression he had been killed by placing his identity card on the body of one of the other internees.

Because Bell had played a crucial role in protecting the hostages, and in the negotiations prior to the government assault, he was remembered as one of the central figures in the events and his name became forever associated with them.

In the wake of the Bell Riots and the senseless death of so many people, public opinion turned against the concept of the Sanctuary Districts. The Sanctuaries were abolished as the United States finally began to face the serious social problems it had struggled with for over a century.

The events were of such significance in the history of the United States prior to World War III that the absence of this event from Earth's 21st century timeline, caused by the premature death of the actual Gabriel Bell upon Sisko's arrival, meant the absence of the United Federation of Planets from Earth's 24th century timeline. (DS9: "Past Tense, Part I", "Past Tense, Part II")

External link

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