Montgomery, Alabama Riverboat Brawl Turns Racial Fast ... Black Versus White

A massive brawl along the docks of a river in the deep South unfolded this weekend -- and it was pretty black and white as far as what was going down ... quite literally.

This wild scene took place Saturday at Riverfront Park in Montgomery, AL -- where multiple eyewitnesses say a riverboat was trying to pull in, but couldn't ... because some locals in a smaller pontoon boat were blocking the space, something a security guard tried rectifying.

That's where this first video picks up ... the man in the white shirt -- who's Black -- is said to be a guard/dock worker of some sort, and he was telling these white dudes to move. It erupted into a 4-on-1 deal, with the white guys wailing on the man ... while others watched.

Soon, though ... other Black people jumped into the mix to come this gentleman's aid -- including somebody who threw themselves into the water from across the way to swim over.

Eventually, the initial fracas came to an end ... but it was far from over. Another group of Black individuals -- who were apparently staffers on the riverboat -- saw what happened and raced down to confront the white assailants ... and another beatdown ensued all over again.

This time, the 4 white men on the boat were very clearly outnumbered ... and all hell broke loose. People were getting punched, knocked down -- it was straight up pandemonium.

Naturally, the cops arrived and multiple people were arrested. While there might've been some confusion, at first, as to what started all this ... Montgomery's mayor, Steven Reed, made it clear it was the white guys who antagonized this ... and consequences are coming.

He says, "[T]he Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job. Warrants are being signed and justice will be served." Unclear who the instigators in the smaller boat were at this point.

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