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(I really wanted to finish this today, but I've got to give a training in an hour, so I'll have to come back and finish the alt text where needed. And yes, I asked about passing this along.)
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Police Formations
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From Students For Queer Liberation (SQL Tkaronto)
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6bQkJQA2rR/?igsh=NjV3cHU2ZnN4eWJ0
(The information in the first two slides is in the alt text, but then it got to long to actually put it as alt text so I'm just putting it here in the body copy.)
SLIDE 3
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Line formation:
This is probably the most common police formation. A line allows the police to control space while also reinforcing each other and providing the numbers to quicky execute arrests of people on the front lines if needed.
More spontaneous arrests often happen when protesters are within reach of the police line.
Controlling the space may mean blocking off streets or other areas. It may also mean moving together to shove a crowd backwards, whether to contain or disperse them. Often, police will try to ensure that protesters are only one side of the police line. On the other side, they may stage
vehicles, horses, and other squads on foot. They will usually try to take arrestees behind the line as quickly as possible to make it harder for the crowd to de-arrest.
[ a row of red dots represent cops in a line, with other dots behind, representing other units/vehicles ]
๐ท Police objectives:
โข Contain a crowd & control the space
โข Direct a crowd's movement & push people back
โข Provide each other backup to carry out arrests
SLIDE 4
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Wedge Formation
A wedge comes out when police intend to break through a crowd. It allows the cops to concentrate their force at one specific point, making it easier for them to part people from each other. Note that wedges don't always aim for the centre of a crowd. They will likely go for whichever point in the front line appears the weakest.
[ image of red dots forming a V, kinda like geese flying south for the winter. More red dots in the centre represent police vehicles and other units ]
Police may want to get through people who are in the way of something - for example, if you're obstructing a fascist march or an encampment clearing. They may also just want to split up a mass of people and force protesters to disperse.
To resist a wedge, you should reinforce each other to resist the push--but be mindful that in a large shoving match, cops may suddenly pull someone out of the crowd for arrest.
๐ท Police objectives:
Break through a crowd.
SLIDE 5
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Crossbow formation
A crossbow formation is used for targeted arrests, often of suspected
"leaders" or "agitators" who are positioned behind the front lines of the crowd. It looks Like a "T" shape: a front Line of cops and, behind it, a column made up of at least two cops per row, positioned directly perpendicular to the line. To carry out the arrest, the column will charge through the crowd, trying to penetrate it and capture the target.
[ ]
๐ท Police objectives:
Carry out targeted arrests
SLIDE 6
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Crossbow formation cont'd
Once the arrest team has apprehended its target, it will quickly form a circle around the arrestee to prevent other protesters from intervening. It will then retreat back behind the police line with the arrestee.
Cops will often point to specific people in the crowd or whisper to each other before carrying out a crossbow extraction. It may be possible to know in advance who they plan to target, and that person can disappear deeper into the crowd for safety. If you see a crossbow but don't know who they're after, hold onto each other tightly - and among your own front line, prepare to resist a sudden police push.
SLIDE 7
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Kettle
A kettle is when multiple lines of police surround a crowd from all sides, letting no one in or out. (In some cases, they may selectively let out, e.g., fascists but no one else.) This is very often a precursor to mass arrests, often of hundreds of people.
The only way out of a kettle is through. You cannot leave a kettle without physically charging through a line of cops.
Holding a crowd in place is different from and, in some sense, opposite of
TPS's more usual objective to disperse and clear people out. Both the G20 in Toronto and the J20 Trump inauguration protests in Washington, DC, for example, were large events of international significance with multiple, more spread-out protests happening. In those situations, the police may want to prevent protesters from *running riot " and regrouping if they simply break up a march.
๐ท Police objectives:
โข Hold a crowd in place
โข Carry out mass arrests
SLIDE 8
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Kettle cont'd
Toronto Police has not kettled any protest since the 620 - although thee
Land Day march on March 30th, 2024 saw a kettle-like use of police
lines to contain people and restrict their movement. TPS lost millions of dollars in lawsuits after the G20 arrests, and they have since developed many "less controversial" tactics for crowd control.
For those reasons, it is highly unlikely that they will kettle protesters for mass arrest any time soon. Of course, this does not necessarily apply to other cities.
The J20 umbrella charge in 2017 is one example of how to respond to a
kettle in progress. Seeing that a kettle was forming, but that reinforcements had not yet arrived, a group of protesters identified a weaker point in the police line. They began a countdown to choreograph their move -- and then, using a single umbrella to block pepper spray, they rammed into the police line with their own wedge-like formation.
Concentrating their entire force on a single spot, they successfully broke
through, freeing about 50 people. Over 200 others, those who didn't escape, were arrested that day.
See CrimethInc.'s article, "Making the Best of Mass Arrests: 12 Lessons from the Kettle During the J20 Protests," for more information and a video of the umbrella charge.
https://crimethinc.com/2017/01/30/making-the-best-of-mass-arrests-12-lessons-from-the-kettle-during-the-j20-protests
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#FuckThePolice #DefundDisarmDismantle #PoliceTactics #CommunityDefence #ActivistResouces
Gigi ๐โ๐ซ
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