Laughingly with the gunpowder plot almost here I thought folk might appreciate this ...Yes its Bloody long but well worth the read ... and no I will not discuss the old Bailey ... The intention of this guide is not to show you how to incite or conduct a riot. It does not promote violence or try to make moral judgments on the efficacy of certain tactics over others. Nor does it want to dwell on the various definitions of ‘violence’ and non-violence’ and partake in those arguments which plague and hinder the activist community. It is merely a compilation of suggestions on how to safely survive situations created by police violence and confrontation, once such a situation has occurred. Trainings which consider throwing and running as acts of violence and advise you against those actions have not prepared us for police overreaction of recent protests. This guide tries to fill in, where typical non-violence trainings may leave out, practical advice on how to get out of such situations without going to jail or the hospital, and without compromising your body or your voice. Yes, we live in a police state. Martial law is a reality. The cops are capable of and overly willing to use excessive force to squelch the messages of protesters and disperse any crowds gathered for the purpose of interfering with business as usual. Going into a demo or a street party, keep in mind that they are much better equipped and trained for close combat than you. They are confident that the law is behind them and against you. So beating the police is about outwitting them, not necessarily hitting them over the head. Know Thy Enemy -The objectives of the police are: 1) To break the spirit of the crowd by intimidating and breaking up the crowd into ‘manageable’ portions. 2) To provoke violence to justify their own actions and identify ‘leaders’. 3) Stop the trouble spreading by surrounding the crowd. 4) Gather evidence for later. The aims of the protester are not to ‘win’, but to be unhurt & free. 1) March or demonstrating in public view. 2) Cause embarrassment and economic damage to political targets. 3) To not be diverted or split into smaller groups by the police. Come Prepared: Bring banners made of thick plastic or canvas material. Banners should be framed with pvc piping (if you can get away with it) or heavy duty cardboard tubes. Banners should be carried along the front and sides of the demonstration. People in the march should link arms and stay close together. A good size flag on a tall pole is a good way to rally a group together. Don’t bring phone or address books to demonstrations. Bring only a list of the numbers you may need during the protest, like the legal number and cell phone numbers of those you may need to coordinate with during the demo. Affinity Groups: Affinity groups are small groups of people know each other well and have similar goals and comfort levels. Affinity groups work together as a unit and when part of a cluster of other affinity groups make it possible to coordinate large groups of people quickly in a non-hierarchical fashion. Affinity groups work best when there size is between 4-8 people. People may want to buddy up within affinity groups so that no one is separated and left alone. Also be aware that if arrested the police will separate you into male and female, so you might want to make sure no one will be alone. Dress for success: Not that you want to be in full armor at a street party, but you want to be discrete and adaptable, in clothing that is easy to apply or discard. Things to consider: 1) Surveillance: Masks make it difficult to identify individuals and if everyone wears masks none will stand out. Hoods will cover most of your face and baseball caps protect you from most cameras mounted above. Some of the best masks are t-shirts. Put your head in a shirt, use the neck hole for the eyeholes and tie the sleeves around the back of your head 2) Rubber bullets/Bean bag pellets: Placards and banners make good shields, and light strips of plastic under clothing (especially on the forearms) may help. The best protection, however, may be a good pair of running shoes. 3) Gasses (pepper spray, tear gas, CS gas, etc.): Lots of water to rinse out your eyes and face. Baking soda in water or diluted vinegar helps as a wash. Whatever you do, don’t rub it in or take a hot shower. Get away, let the wind blow it off your skin and clothing. Of course gas masks or goggles would be most effective, but we have seen that Martial Law may make the possession of such masks illegal and therefore another excuse to hassle you. 4) Baton charges: Banners can be used as a barrier for police line charges. Use plastic tarps rather than sheets for banners. Wrap the ends in around themselves so the police can’t easily grab it. 5) Bags can not only be a liability but a convenient hand hold for police so if you need a bag consider one that is small and worn on the side, or that you can wear under your coat. Try not to have anything in it that you can’t ditch if need be. 6) Black bloc is a tactic in which everybody dresses similarly, wearing masks and black clothing. There is much more to be said about this, which we won’t go into here. If you do wear all black bring a separate change of clothes so as not to be singled out when you’re not with others doing the same. When Marching: Don’t let yourself be intimidated onto the sidewalk. Police will push marches onto sidewalks in order to thin them out and divide them into smaller groups. Once the police force a march onto the sidewalk they can much more easily direct its movements and single out troublemakers. Street crossings can be used to move into the roadway though groups may have to turn. In instances like this people walking bicycles can help form barriers, which will slow down police trying to push into the march. Become familiar with the area before you demonstrate. Know which streets are one-way, where the alleys, parks and targets are. Parks can be good places to retreat to or to regroup in. The police would prefer if you stayed there. Police move slow, so move quickly and in a large tight group. Occasionally running in a coordinated manner will help to keep the police always behind you. Countdowns will not only intimidate the police but they get you all charged up before running. Moving the wrong way down one-way streets my thin out the demonstration (as people have to make room for stopped cars) but it makes it very difficult for large groups of police to follow. 1) Look outwards from the crowd. If someone is being administered first aid, face away from them. 2) Form cordons around anything the police want. (buildings, sound equipment, etc.) 3) Sitting down is good for dissuading police charging but only in large numbers. Sometimes sitting is not really worth it. Horses are unpredictable. Particularly violent cops, especially those employing gases or rubber bullets, may be dangerous to sit in front of. 4) Throwing is a defensive act. It may not be wise to throw stuff at the best of times – that will only provoke them and make them want to hit you harder. If you want to throw, do it defensively, strategically, and en masse – a constant hail of debris will create a ‘sterile area’ where the police will not want to go. Remember: don’t throw to attack or cause injury. Throw from the front and then disappear into the crowd. Only jerks throw from the back. –Gas canisters can be thrown or kicked away from the crowd before they explode. Be careful! Don’t pick up with your bare hands, as they can be very hot. They will explode. 5) Barricades can be more hassle than they are worth. Impassable blockades may be an inconvenience to you when you need to run. The best barricades are random material like newspaper boxes, dumpsters turned on the side, and road or construction material, strewn all over. One or two affinity groups can lift small parked cars and place them in the street with out damaging them. 6) The best defense is chaos. If situations change constantly they cannot keep up. Keep moving. Change your appearance. Open new directions and possibilities. Be unpredictable. 7) Watch out for provocateurs including but not limited to “peace police”. These self appointed enforcers of “peace” infiltrate demonstrations and try to prevent people from walking in the street or engaging in many forms of protest. They sometimes wear armbands (usually white) and will report people to the police or attempt to apprehend them personally. Also watch out for individuals trying to instigate violence against obvious non-targets. These people are often police or employed by them to discredit us. Basic police choreography With any rowdy crowd, the police will be trying to break it up. They will try to intimidate and disperse crowds using baton line charges, horse charges, vehicles, gases, rubber/wooden bullets and a few violent arrests. The dance steps will include one or more of these: 1) Cops in lines will surround you. 2) Either from the middle or one side, the cop lines will force everyone onto the sidewalk trying to create ‘spectators’ & ‘actors’ out of the crowd. 3) Baton/horse/gas attack to lower morale. 4) Loud speakers, and concussion grenades, to disorient and breakup the crowd. 5) Line charges will slowly push the crowd down the street to where they want you (rush of cops à fall back à strengthen line à repeat). 6) The police cannot arrest large groups of people unless they have lots of little plastic handcuffs. 7) The police won’t use tear gas unless they have their own gas masks on. Stop the lines from forming! Surrounding you, preventing you from going where you want to go, and pushing you down the street to where they want you to go, all require the police to be in a tight line. It is important to prevent the first lines from forming. If the crowd seems volatile, they will hold back and form their lines a distance away. But if the crowd is hanging around looking confused and passive they will sneak in and form the lines amongst you. - don’t stand and watch them. Always stay moving - don’t look like you’ll let them anywhere near you. - spot gaps in the crowd and fill them. stick together. - figure out where they want to go and get there first. - protect your escape routes by standing in front of them. - get those people who turned into ‘spectators’ back into the crowd and moving around. Now they may just charge and start arresting. At least you are in a stronger position to deal and your escape routes are secured. Whatever happens next, don’t stand there waiting for it. Keep moving and acting defensively. If they have blocked your only exit try… - counter advancing: this involves moving your lines into theirs thus gaining more space and opening up more exits. Use the front line as a solid wall, linking arms and moving slowly forward. Try a countdown for a faster advance. Use the banner as a plow (this prevents them from breaking your line). Dumpsters on wheels, saw horses and fencing also work. -reforming: always look for ways to increase your number, by joining up with other groups and absorbing stragglers. Everyone has to get out and you’ll stand a better chance of getting out unharmed, with all your belongings and equipment if you leave together at the same time. Snatch squads the police will often want to isolate and arrest individuals out of a crowd. Groups of cops will surround a person, and some to make the arrest and others to keep an open corridor between themselves and police lines. Once they have the person, he/she will be taken away behind police lines, and put in a vehicle, which will probably leave the area as fast as possible. 1. Keep the crowd moving together 2. Always be aware of what the police are doing. They are slow and will bunch up often in a straight line perpendicular to the demonstration before moving in. 3. If there is a target person, quickly get him/her out of the area. 4. Hold the banners tight and link arms in an impenetrable wall in the squads’ path. 5. Surround individual officers once in the crowd and they will back off. 6. If you do get grabbed and pressure pointed, keep your head and arms moving. If you fight them you may be charged with assault. 7. If you are being arrested and choose not to struggle go limp. Going limp is a non-violent form of protest that discourages police from making future arrests. When it takes multiple officers to arrest or detain each person it puts us in a much better position. Also it slows down the process and gives others a chance to defend you. De-arresting:The best time to do this is as soon as the snatch has happened. You need a group of people to break the police’s grip and some people to act as blocks. An important and low risk role in the de-arrest involves simply placing your body between the police and there target. This is sometimes called the pick or pick and roll. Once you have your person back, all should link arms and disappear into the crowd. The police may try to snatch back or arrest one of the de-arresters. Bear in mind that the de-arrester may end up with heavier charges than the original arrestee if caught. Surrounding police vehicles containing arrestees and preventing them from moving has in the past led to them being released. Cars don’t move very well when they have flat tires, but keep in mind that when tires are punctured they can be loud. These are a few of the most probable situations and suggestions of possible tactics to deal with them. Keep in mind that although the police are trained to fight and deal with you, they are just doing their job and following orders. Watch for their weak points and times that they are vulnerable, like while they are waiting for orders. The best preparation before going into possible situations is discussion and communication with your peers. Don’t get preoccupied fighting the cops and remember your original target. Don’t let the stress level lead to infighting; that’s exactly what they want to see. Maintain solidarity with your fellow protesters and recognizing your common goal to keep yourselves from getting arrested or getting hurt. Bike Scouts: Bike scouts are essential to a good communications team. They’re good for relaying information like ambushes and other police movement such as vulnerabilities in their lines. Scouts can also help unite small groups of demonstrators into lager and more effective groups. ... way too much time thinking on these matters ... Solidarity from an old activist to those on the front lines ....
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 06:02:48 +0000
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