Historical incidents reviewed include the London Gordon riot in 1780, the riot in New York in May 1849, Bloody Sunday 1905 in St. Petersburg, and uprisings in East Germany, Poland, and Hungary in the 1950's. The following Indian incidents are described: Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, (April 13, 1919), Shantia Kand of Kanpur (November 1959); disturbances near Parliament House, New Delhi (November 7, 1966); Bangladesh (March 1971); and Nagpur (September, 1971). In addition, events of April 6 and 7, 1976, in Peking and in South Africa during the same year are related. Each incident is briefly described and lessons to be learned from the outcome are suggested. The paper concludes that Government credibility must be maintained at a high level, that political solutions must be sought to political problems, and that restoring the rule of law should be the only motivation of anyone involved in riot control management.