Gao Panera Riots

The Gao Panera Riots were a series of riots that took place in the capitol city and many outlying settlements. Sparked by political strife and food rationing, they spilled over in March 2482 into a city-wide upheaval that threatened UEG personnel. The lessons learned from the abortive rescue attempt would inform UNSC doctrine going into the Insurrection.

Conflict
In 2482, riots broke out in Rinale, the capitol city of Gao. Initially provoked by a baker’s union furious over delays in shipments of flour, the riots spread across the city, and the government adopted a policy of compartmentalization. Some districts would be protected, others would be left to burn.

Police protection was withdrawn from the UEG embassy, leaving a single platoon of Marines to defend against several thousand armed rioters. Although Gao officials offered to restore the protection in exchange for concessions, the embassy staff had already hit the panic button, and the UNSC Belfast was on its way.

The 3rd Marine Armored Battalion landed on Gozmon Highway, ten miles outside of Gao. The two tank companies would perform a thunder run through the embassy district, punching a hole in the riots and providing a distraction as the mechanized infantry company relieved the embassy forces. Air support would be provided by two wings of gunships.

The thunder runs failed. The Gao rioters were organized by rival political factions and far better armed than intelligence indicated. The rioters had Tábano rocket launchers, a top-attack rocket simple enough to be produced in small workshops, but powerful enough to defeat Scorpion armor. The gunships were likewise menaced by rockets when they attempted to provide close air support.

The offensive stalled and the situation very nearly escalated when the Gao military panicked and called up their forces. Intelligence reports indicated that Gao might have as many as seventy-five tanks, but over 150 Siberian-built Carroways were spotted mobilizing. The Gao government and the rioters only backed down when the Belfast did a flyby of Rinale, maxing out its performance envelope to loop around the city and return to orbit. Warning shots from the point defense cannons were fired into burning buildings. With the streets clear, the 3rd Marine was able to reach the embassy and extract the personnel.

Four wrecked gunships and four destroyed Scorpions were returned to the UNSC within a week. The government of Gao wrote off a fifth Scorpion as unrecoverable due to the fact that a building had collapsed on it, but that final Scorpion was extracted and parked in a childrens’ playground within the year.