In the article, the author, from the point of view of the criminal law composition, examines the issues of distinguishing between mass riots and hooliganism committed by a group of people. In particular, it is indicated that it is necessary to take into account, as criteria for dividing the crimes under study, some differences between the sign of publicity and the characteristic of a direct object directly related to it, signs of the objective side, qualification of the act as mass riots, if there is no motive of hooligan motives on the subjective side, while developing appropriate scientifically - theoretical conclusions.