Bell Riots The Bell Riots were a pivotal series of events on Earth that took place in September of 2024 . Started in San Francisco ' s Sanctuary District A , they were named after protest leader Gabriel Bell . One of the most violent civil disturbances in all of American history , the riot s and subsequent crackdown resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Sanctuary District residents . ( ) Prelude . By the 2020 s , the American government – reacting to serious problems of homelessness and unemployment – created special Sanctuary District s ( essentially walled - off sections of the city grid ) in most major cities . Unfortunately – while established with the benevolent intent of providing free housing and food , as well as prospects for future employment – the Sanctuaries quickly degenerated into inhumane internment camps for the poor . Even though people with criminal records were not allowed inside Sanctuaries , it didn ' t take long for the homeless and unemployed to be joined by the mentally ill and other , more violent , social outcasts . These groups were referred to by their slang terms – Gimmie s , Dim s , and s . By late 2024 , the twenty square blocks that made up Sanctuary District A had become overcrowded slums . With the records of people inside the Sanctuaries not uploaded to the planetary computer network ( and therefore not accessible using an Interface ) , the true conditions inside were unknown to the general public . American society believed that , despite the political upheaval affecting Europe at the time , the United States was stable and had found a way to successfully deal with the social problems that had been the genesis of the Sanctuaries . An " out of sight , out of mind " mentality had set in . People in the district started to believe that their needs were forgotten . The spark . On August 30th , three Starfleet officer s , Benjamin Sisko , Julian Bashir , and Jadzia Dax , arrived in San Francisco from 2371 , due to a transporter accident . Knocked unconscious during the transport , Sisko and Bashir were awoken by security guards Vin and Bernardo Calvera , who mistakenly believed that the pair of newcomers were homeless . Sisko and Bashir lacked any form of identification and their combadge s had been stolen so they were brought to Sanctuary District A , where they were processed by health official . Inside , Sisko and Bashir , in accordance with Starfleet ' s temporal displacement policy , tried not to affect history while looking for a way out to find Dax . Dax had meanwhile been awoken and befriended by Chris Brynner , who thought she had been mugged and who found her a place to stay . On the night of the 31st , Bashir was assaulted by a gang of Ghosts trying to take his ration card . In the ensuing scuffle , a man stepped in to help him but was stabbed to death by Biddle Coleridge ( B . C . ) , who hurriedly vacated the scene . Sisko checked the victim ' s ration card and thereby discovered that the man who had died helping them was Gabriel Bell . Realizing they had changed the past , Sisko ( assuming Bell ' s identity ) and Bashir joined gimmie Michael Webb – whom they had met earlier – in gathering support for a rally outside the Sanctuary Processing Center , the next day . Riot . Early in the morning of September 1st , the conditions surrounding the distribution of food rations sparked a riot , wherein the Ghosts led by B . C . attacked the Sanctuary guards and quickly captured the Sanctuary Processing Center as well as the rest of the district . Armed with the weapons of the overpowered guards , the Ghosts took six center employees hostage , including Vin , Calvera , and Lee . They were joined by " Gabriel Bell " and Michael Webb , who acted as the voice and face of the riot while dealing with police negotiator Detective Preston . Chris Brynner , who owned Brynner Information Systems ( which operated Channel 90 on the net ) , was convinced by Dax to break the law and to reconnect the Processing Center after the police cut it off . Reconnected on September 2nd , many Sanctuary residents ( such as Henry Garcia ) were able to tell their stories of imprisonment to the outside world . As a result , the American public became aware of the great injustice that had been hidden from them and further riots broke out in Sanctuaries across the US . Despite protests from Detective Preston , the governor of California ordered National Guardsmen to retake the Sanctuary by force on September 3rd at 0500 hours . In the melee , hundreds of Sanctuary residents were killed , including B . C . and Michael Webb . " Gabriel Bell " was shot , protecting Vin and the other hostages ( all of whom remained unharmed ) . Aftermath . Vin and Bernardo took Bell ' s and Bashir ' s ration cards after the riot , saying they would list them as casualties , and helped them return to their beam - in site , where Dax was waiting for them . Both Vin and Bernardo went on to tell other people what had happened in the Sanctuary , never knowing that Sisko had been Bell . The away team was rescued by Major Kira Nerys and Chief Miles O ' Brien shortly thereafter . In the wake of the riots , and the senseless death of so many people , public opinion turned against the concept of the Sanctuary Districts . The Districts were abolished as the United States finally began to face the serious social problems it had struggled with for over a century . Because Bell had played a crucial role in protecting the hostages , and in the negotiations prior to the government assault , he was remembered as one of the central figures in the events and his name became forever associated with them . The Bell Riots were of such significance that their absence from Earth ' s history led to an alternate timeline , in which the United Federation of Planets was never created . Appendices . Background information . The conceptualization of the Bell Riots began after Robert Hewitt Wolfe suggested doing a DS9 episode about homelessness . Even though he and Ira Steven Behr tried several ways of doing the story , they were particular about what form the protest against homelessness would take . Behr recalled , " " We certainly didn ' t want to do a , which would have been an obvious way to go . We didn ' t want to have Sisko leading a march or a protest . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " ) Ultimately , the writers based the Bell Riots on two historical incidents , both of which took place in the early 1970s : the of anti - war protesters in 1970 and the in 1971 . Whereas the reactions to the former event had had a major impact on Ira Steven Behr , his idea of basing the protest on the Attica Prison riot was also a major influence on the DS9 story itself . Behr stated , " " I was driving home one evening , and I suddenly thought , ' Attica . ' I came in the next day and told Robert , ' I hope you like it , because I think this is the way we have to do it – we ' re gonna do concentration camps . " " ( " " ) Of the Kent State shootings , Behr remembered , " " Once they started shooting down American college students , everyone I knew who was still pro - war said , ' Maybe we should just end this damn thing . ' And many of the counterculture kids , ironically , said , ' If they ' re gonna shoot us , screw the revolution . Let ' s become accountants . ' It had a big impact on me , and I got the idea of doing a combination of Kent State and an Attica [ prison ] - type siege , starting with the question : What would happen if the government started putting these people in camps ? How would society deal with that or rationalize it ? How would the homeless people deal with it ? " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " )