Police were condemning the organisers and participants of Summernats on this day in 1993 due to violent conditions.
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Police were subjected to verbal abuse and being pelted with rocks, bottles and cans, often full of urine. One officer said he had faced violent crowds for all three nights of the worst trouble.
"It's the most frightening experience I've ever had, worse than Aidex, because at least there the people came in organised surges, this was straight-out hooliganism," he said.
"We were treated like shit."
In the three days of unruly behaviour, traffic lights had been pulled out of the ground and the parts thrown at members of the public.
Lawns of houses along Northbourne Avenue had been turned into toilets, as people living in their cars on the side of the road had nowhere else to go.
The behaviour prompted Attorney-General Terry Connolly to say Summernats would not be held again in its present form. He said public safety had to come before the estimated $7 million-plus boost Summernats gave to the local economy.
He said that banning the event would be a last resort, with all parties first being consulted to see how the event could be kept in Canberra and run safely.
"We'd like to talk to the organisers about an event that focuses on the machinery and the skill involved in that, rather than the boobs, the booze and burnouts," Mr Connolly said.
