Hundreds of people, many of them were wearing masks, showed out for what was supposed to be a peaceful protest that afternoon, turning it into a riot that targeted businesses and livelihoods in one of the most varied sections of the city.
They fought with the cops, set windows on fire, and damaged property.
Even after hundreds of people were taken into custody and several of them received sentences, the effects of that day are still being felt months later.
Not simply in the broken windows and trash still lying in the street, but in the underlying dynamics of a neighborhood worried about more serious problems that they believe have plagued the region for far longer.
Pervaz Akhtar, who has over thirty years of experience in Middlesbrough and owns a phone store on Parliament Road, is one of those individuals.
He decided to take matters into his own hands after his stock was stolen more than six times in two years.
