Violence dogs LA gaming cafe culture

[Budlite74]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7027

Violence dogs LA gaming cafe culture

Counterstrike a prelude to street battles


By INQUIRER staff: Friday 03 January 2003, 11:23

A GAME OF COUNTERSTRIKE ended in a riot with around 100 people attacking each other with chairs and metal pipes, Reuters reports.
And a councillor in Los Angeles has called for a crackdown on Internet cafes, where disputes over games regularly spill out onto the streets.

An Internet café called NetStreet in the town was the focus of the brawl that left a number of people injured. One youth sustained a gunshot wound to the leg. The scrap was the latest in a number of incidents in and around gaming cafes. In July a 19-year-old man was shot dead as he returned from a session at the café. It is unclear whether the shooting was related to the gaming.

A Los Angeles City Councilman, Dennis Zine, told Reuters he plans to ask police to investigate the incidents with a view to introducing local legislation to more closely regulate gaming cafes. Zine suggests the cafes have become a focus for gang violence. Police have been called to more than 300 incidents in cafes since June in the city of Garden Grove south of Los Angeles, reports state. Zine suggests ages restrictions and security measures be introduced in gaming cafes as a way of dealing with the violence. µ

[Enrage]

who knew video games promoted violence :P