[goofywife]

1992: Riots break out in L.A.
The city of Los Angeles was a scene of violence today after riots broke out following the acquittal of four white police officers charged with the videotaped beating of Rodney King.

"Gov. Pete Wilson declared a state of emergency and 2,000 National Guardsmen were sent to armories and other gathering points to await orders as the city tried to quell the worst outbreak of violence since the Watts riots of 1965," reported The Capital on April 30, 1992. "Blacks dragged motorists from their cars and beat them, looters – most of them black – emptied a supermarket, and more than 300 fires were reported. At dawn, police with shotguns guarded firefighters as they battled more than 30 blazes, authorities said. Streets were largely deserted."

NOTE: An estimated 55 people were reported dead when the rioting finally ceased several days later. The acquitted police officers faced a second trial one year later, in which two were found guilty of violating King's civil rights.


1993: Buckingham Palace opens to public
Buckingham Palace announced today it will open its doors to the public in order to raise money to repair the fire-damaged Windsor Castle. "Treasures on view will include a raft of Old Master paintings, the world's finest collection of Sevres porcelain and antique French furniture, some from Versailles," informed The Intelligencer on April 30, 1993. "Admission will cost $12.50 for adults, and the palace expects up to 400,000 tourists a year. The government said the tours of Buckingham Palace plus new charges for visiting Windsor Castle are expected to meet 70 per cent of the repair bill."

1967: Muhammad Ali stripped of title
Boxer Cassius Clay, known as Muhammad Ali, was stripped of his heavyweight championship title today after refusing induction into the United States Army on religious grounds. "I had the world heavyweight title, not because it was 'given' to me, not because of my race or religion, but because I won it in the ring through my own boxing ability," said Ali in a statement published in The Lima News on April 29, 1967. "Those who want to 'take' it and hold a series of auction-type bouts not only do me a disservice but actually disgrace themselves," he continued. NOTE: Two months later, Ali was found guilty of draft evasion and was sentenced to prison for five years. He was allowed to box again in 1970, and the Supreme Court reversed his conviction the following year.


1945: Dachau concentration camp is liberated
United States forces freed 32,000 captives at the Dachau concentration camp today. "The political prisoners at Dachau wept with hysteria when troops of the U.S. Seventh Army cleared the enemy guards from the camp where gruesome torture rooms and gas chambers were located," read an article in The Daily Courier on April 30, 1945. Another 27,000 American and British prisoners of war were also freed when the U.S. Third Army found a large prisoner of war camp at Moosburg, just northeast of Munich.