How riot control works:

Riot Control Tactics

The tactics used to control riots in the past were simple -- they were based on the fact that the police were almost always better-armed than the rioters. The tactics they used basically consisted of forming a line and charging into the crowd. Today, the police are still well-armed, but tactics have advanced significantly in hopes of preventing injuries.

When a riot is in full swing, police will deploy in a square formation with a command team at the center. The command team is protected on all four sides by echelons of troops deployed in groups of 10 or 12 officers. There is also an arrest team at the center of the square.

This tactical unit is very mobile and able to adapt on the fly to changes in the situation. If a threat suddenly appears behind or to one side of the unit, then the echelon facing that direction is designated the front of the unit. The entire team can then change the direction it's facing without a lot of maneuvering. Also, the echelons can cover each other when the team moves to take advanced positions. If the unit is under attack, the whole team does not move together: One echelon moves while the others provide covering fire or an actual physical screen (with riot shields). Then another echelon moves up into position.

The echelon is not meant to be an impenetrable wall of cop. In fact, the riot squad often leaves an escape route to let rioters run past the squad. The officers can adopt a passive position, in which they spread out and leave several yards between each officer. The crowd can then easily filter through them. If a particularly violent group moves toward the officers or they spot specific suspects they want to arrest, they can quickly close the gaps and form a tight line.

As the unit moves forward into a crowd, it will prod and push at anyone who doesn't respond to requests to move away by the time the front echelon reaches them. If they still refuse to move, the unit continues moving forward, but the front echelon opens up and passes around the protestors. Once the protestors are inside the square, the unit stops, the front echelon reforms and the arrest team processes the rioters. When they're done, the unit can continue moving.

Crowd-control Philosophy: Conflict

If a crowd gets unruly and starts taking violent action, then the police will switch to a more aggressive attitude. Their actions here reflect the fact that almost all riots are incited and lead by a few individuals who feel strongly or have something to gain from a violent confrontation. The majority of the people present either show up because something exciting is going on or are bystanders who got carried into the mob mentality. Faced with the possibility of arrest or confrontation with police, most of them simply want to escape and go home.

The first step is simple intimidation. Riot officers stand in strict formations and act with military precision. Once they form echelons -- lines of officers that effectively work as barriers -- the officers tap their batons on their shields or stomp their feet in unison. The result can be quite frightening to unarmed civilians -- it looks and sounds as if this group of armed and armored officers is getting ready to come crashing down with clubs swinging. In truth, this display is meant to scare off as many of the rioters as possible without the officers ever getting near them.

Police do not try to arrest every rioter. Their first targets are those who are leading the riot, because often the crowd will disperse without their leaders firing them up and encouraging them. All people who are spotted breaking a law are also targeted for arrest, especially if they injure or kill another person.

When it gets to the point where officers are actually in conflict with the rioters, the goal is still to disperse the crowd. A combination of advancing lines of officers and the use of noxious gas is used to direct the crowd in a certain direction or keep them away from a certain area. The crowd is never pinned down -- rioters are always given an escape route, since the whole point is to get them to run away.

Source: "How Riot Control Works" by Ed Grabianowski | howstuffworks.com

The Black Bloc

The Black Bloc is not an organization. It has no leaders. Like a spectre, it simply appears out of nowhere, wreaks havoc, then vanishes.

Nobody speaks for anybody in this group. They’re totally organic structures of people that come together in a certain time and place, and then they dissolve. Their actions are reactive to the police presence as well as the tenseness of the situation. "The Black Bloc" is sometimes incorrectly reported as being the name of a specific anarchist group. It is rather a tactic that may be adopted by groups of various motivations and methods.

Tactics of a Black Bloc can include vandalism, rioting and street fighting, demonstrating without a permit, misleading the authorities, assisting in the escape of people arrested by the police, administering first aid to persons affected by tear gas in areas where protesters are barred from entering, building barricades, and attacking police. Property destruction carried out by Black Blocs tends to have symbolic significance: common targets include banks, institutional buildings, outlets for multinational corporations, gasoline stations, and video-surveillance cameras.

Each participant of a Black Bloc wears somewhat of a "uniform". The clothing is used to avoid being identified, and to appear as one large mass, promoting solidarity or creating the illusion of a larger group. If every single person in the Bloc looks relatively alike, it is hard for the police to determine which individual did what. For instance, if a Black Bloc participant throws a brick at a store window and runs into the Bloc, he will easily blend in with everyone else.

The black hooded sweatshirt offers great protection in many ways. It protects the back of the neck and sides of the head from pepper spray and other chemical agents. Police often occupy rooftops and use helicopters in order to gain overhead perspective when filming and photographing the Bloc. The hooded sweatshirt helps protect you from these perspectives by covering your head and therefore making it difficult to draw any distinctions. All logos, patches, or anything else that can help the police distinguish you from anyone else should be removed or left at home.

Average black workers pants are fine. Black military-style cargo pants are extremely recommended. The cargo pockets can hold any items of use that you may have. All distinguishing characteristics must be removed.

The mask is one of the most important aspects of the equipment. The mask you wear should show nothing more than your eyes.

Ski Mask: We recommend the masks that only have holes for your eyes. If you can only find the kind with the three holes, then that will work. Just take a black piece of cloth and fill the mouth hole.

Bandana: An average black bandana that is tied around your mouth will work too. When choosing this mask, wear something over the top part of your head, such as a simple baseball hat or hood. If your hair and rest of your upper head are exposed, it is not hard to tell who you are.

Gas Mask: Useful if you plan on engaging in some heavy street combat. Tear gas is a widely used deterrent in street battles, and you should not be forced to turn away from your goal because of some gas. In most cases the ones wearing the gas masks are the ones throwing the gas canisters back at the police. Wearing a gas mask is an illegal practice and should be worn with caution.












In developing defensive-offense tactics, your bodies cant provide for everything you have to do in battle. That is why you need to be prepared with the proper tools to execute your goal.

These can include, but are not limited to:

Slingshot: Very effective when used by large groups at once. Should be used with 9 mm to 12 mm steel balls. Here is how you build one.

Smoke Bombs: They are great when dealing with illegal situations. It can shield any media or police cameras from catching anyone on film participating in an illegal act. It can also disorient the police when they are advancing on the crowd. For construction methods, click here.

Spray Cans: These are a very effective and educating method of property destruction. Slogans and symbols can be sprayed on rough surfaces such as brick or concrete walls that are a real bitch to remove. Paint applied on a riot cop's face-mask will mean he has to take it off. Wear gloves to keep the evidence off of you. Any trace of paint on your hands will make it damned hard to deny doing it.

Caltrops: Easy to make, and quite an effective way of stopping cars. To make them, simply bend together two pieces of steel rod and weld in a way that no matter which way the device falls one point is sticking straight up (picture). Make sure that these nails are both long (10 cm or longer) and thick (at least 5 mm) as car tires have a really thick outer layer. Sprinkle these across a road to prevent four-wheeled intruders. They will flatten normal police car tires in under a second.

Rope and marbles: Can be used as tangle-foot for massed riot troops or horses when well anchored off to utility poles or fire hydrants. Marbles in large numbers on hard pavement will trip a horse and panic them.

Clubs: Besides being mostly non lethal when used against the leg muscles, they are normally able to incapacitate in one or two strikes. Baseball bats are the baseline, a police collapsible baton is an excellent choice for concealment, length when extended and effectiveness in bruising an attacker to the point that they retreat or go to the ground.

Unarresting
Going to demonstrations comes with the chance of arrest, especially with the Black Bloc. Unarresting is the practice of pulling your comrades back into safety from the arms of the officers. This is a serious topic that needs to be discussed and practiced.
Most Blocs use the tactic of linking arms. This way, when an officer tries to pull one of them away, it makes it difficult to pull the individual from the arms of the other participants.

Often times, a demonstrator will get isolated from the group and suddenly be taken by an officer. Don't let anyone stray from the group. If someone does happen to stray and be detained, there are some things you can do if you act quickly: let everyone know what is happening and have your group run to the area of the situation. If the cop does not back away by the time you arrive to this situation, your group can fall on top of the person in a pile, and more people will gather around the situation. Make sure you do not harm the person you are attempting to unarrest. You can also get a few people to simply pull him away from the officer.

Remember! Unarresting someone is a very risky circumstance. In some cases, you can be given a harsher charge than the person you are unarresting.

De-Bloc'ing
At all demonstrations, it's often that people are picked up on the way from an action. When leaving a demonstration, you should always leave wearing something different than how you came. When walking away from the scene of a demonstration, remember not to ever be alone. If for some reason you came to the demonstration by yourself, just ask someone that is in a large group if you can walk with them.


Be creative. Think of some new ideas for de-Bloc'ing. Scope out the area of the demonstration before hand and find some good secure places to escape to.

Besides getting away with public criminal acts, there are other reasons to act in a Bloc. Bloc participation can be really exciting, and good for morale—acting in a mass of people who are ostensibly prepared to do what they believe is right regardless of police intimidation is often a hell of a lot more empowering than chanting weakly with the liberals; matching battle-dress is a ritual for inspiring courage that need not be abandoned to our uniformed enemies.

Sources: mlcastle.net, wikipedia, thestar.com, crimethinc.com


NOTE: Apparently, this is the one blog post that attracts most readers. Perhaps because of the strange days we are all living. Note that I do not endorse violence; all you can read in this article  is pure theory. It is meant to show that people are able to resist police abuse, not to encourage violent protests. Oh, and leave a comment while you're here.

Further reading: How riot control works