Kettling - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kettling is a police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

tactic for controlling large crowds

Crowd control

Crowd control is the controlling of a crowd, to prevent the outbreak of disorder and prevention of possible riot. Examples are at soccer matches, when a sale of goods has attracted an excess of customers, refugee control, or mass decontamination and mass quarantine situations . It calls for gentler...

during demonstration

Demonstration (people)

A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...

s or protest

Protest

A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...

s. It involves the formation of large cordon

Cordon

A cordon is also a line of people, military posts, or ships surrounding an area to close or guard it.Cordon may also refer to:* Cordon and search, a military operation...

s of police officers who then move to contain a crowd within a limited area. Protesters are left only one choice of exit, determined by the police, or are completely prevented from leaving. In some cases protesters are reported to have been denied access to food, water and toilet facilities for long periods.

Tactics

The term "kettle" is a metaphor, likening the containment of protestors to the containment of heat and steam within a domestic kettle

Kettle

A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a small kitchen appliance used for boiling water. Kettles can be heated either by placing on a stove, or by their own electric heating element.- Stovetop kettles :...

. Its modern English usage may come from "kessel" - literally a cauldron, or kettle in German - that describes an encircled army about to be annihilated by a superior force. A cauldron is expected to be "boiling" with combat activity, the large enemy forces still quite able to offer "hot" resistance in the initial stages of encirclement, and so are to be contained, but not engaged directly.

To avoid allusions to military confrontation, kettling is sometimes described as "corralling," likening the tactic to the enclosure of livestock

Pen (enclosure)

A pen is an enclosure for holding livestock. The term describes multiple types of enclosures that may confine one or many animals. Construction and terminology varies depending on region of the world, purpose, animal species to be confined, local materials used, and cultural tradition...

. Although large groups are difficult to control, this can be done by concentrations

Force concentration

Force concentration is the practice of concentrating a military force, so as to bring to bear such overwhelming force against a portion of an enemy force that the disparity between the two forces alone acts as a force multiplier, in favour of the concentrated forces.-Mass of decision:Force...

of police. The tactic prevents the large group breaking into smaller splinters that have to be individually chased down, thus requiring the policing to break into multiple groups. Once the kettle has been formed, the cordon is tightened, which may include the use of baton charge

Baton charge

A baton charge is a coordinated tactic for dispersing crowds of people, usually used by police or military during public order situations. In certain countries, police are not authorised to use the tactic unless no other means can be practiced....

s to restrict the territory occupied by the protesters. The cordon is then maintained for a number of hours: the ostensible aim is to leave would-be "violent" protesters too tired to do anything but want to go home.

Kettling has been criticized for being an indiscriminate tactic which leads to the detention of law-abiding citizens and innocent bystanders, as well as for denying detainees access to food, water and toilets. Further criticism has been made that in some instances the tactic has been used to foment disorder with the aim of changing the focus of public debate. In some countries the tactic has led to legal challenges on the grounds of human rights violations.

Canada

On June 27, 2010, 200 peaceful protesters, as well as local bystanders, were kettled in Toronto at the intersection of Queen St. and Spadina Ave. during the G20 summit. Several hundred people were also kettled outside of the Novotel Hotel on the Esplanade and arrested. The following year the Toronto Police Department swore to never use kettling again..

On March 15, 2011, 250–300 protesters in Montreal were kettled on St-Denis just north of Mont Royal during the Annual March Against Police Brutality. Police used stun grenades

Stun grenade

A stun grenade, also known as a flash grenade or a flashbang, is a non-lethal weapon. The first devices like this were created in the 1960s at the order of the British Special Air Service as an incapacitant....

, police in riot gear, and horses to kettle the crowd.

Denmark

Between 250 and 1000 non-violent protestors at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference

2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference

The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 December and 18 December. The conference included the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate...

in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

were kettled by police. A police spokesman said that the detainment was necessary to avoid disorder.

Finland

Finnish anarchist demonstration Smash Asem was prevented from taking place when 200 riot police and hundreds of other police and Finnish Border Guard

Finnish Border Guard

The Finnish Border guard is the national security agency responsible for enforcing the security of Finland's borders...

personnel kettled around 300 to 500 demonstrators and bystanders in front of Kiasma

Kiasma

Kiasma is a contemporary art museum located on Mannerheimintie in Helsinki, Finland. Its name kiasma, Finnish for chiasma, alludes to the basic conceptual idea of its architect, Steven Holl. The museum exhibits the contemporary art collection of the Finnish National Gallery founded in 1990...

in downtown Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

for over 3 hours on 9 September 2006.

France

On the Guillotière bridge In Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, on the 20 October 2010, a few hundred protestors were kettled for several hours. The next day in Place Bellecour

Place Bellecour

The Place Bellecour is a large town square in Lyon, France, to the north of the Ainay district. Measuring 312 m by 200 m , it is the largest clear square in Europe, and the third biggest square of France, behind the place des Quinconces in Bordeaux et the place de la...

, about 500 citizens and protestors defending public pension

2010 French pension reform strikes

The 2010 pension reform strikes in France were a series of ongoing general strikes and demonstrations in France which occurred during September and October 2010....

were kettled for six hours without food or water by both the police and the military. They were prevented from marching, and tear gas and water cannons were used.

Germany

An early example of kettling was by German police in 1986. During a demonstration by anti-nuclear protestors at Heiligengeistfeld

Heiligengeistfeld

Heiligengeistfeld is an area of Hamburg in the St. Pauli quarter. Since 1893 the funfair Hamburger DOM is held here. In times where this area is not used for exhibitions, circuses or the DOM it is a car park...

, Hamburg on 8 May, Hamburg Police

Hamburg Police

The Hamburg Police is the German Landespolizei force for the city-state of Hamburg. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state agencies...

cordoned approximately 800 people into a "kettle" for several hours. German kettling tactics distinguish a stationary form of detention (Polizeikessel) and a mobile form, in which protestors are enclosed by a mobile police cordon while they march (Wanderkessel). These types of police cordon were also regularly used in the UK before the tactic got refined at the N30 protest (see below), and dubbed a kettle.

Kettling has been challenged in the German courts on several occasions. The 1986 Hamburger Kessel was ruled unlawful by the administrative court

Administrative court

Greece, as a civil law country has administrative courts. The establishment of those courts can be found in article 94 of the Constitution of the Hellenic Republic 1975, as revised in 2001. The administrative courts are composed from districts Courts of First Instance, district Courts of Appeal and...

of Hamburg. The district court found German police guilty of wrongful deprivation of personal liberty.

Following an anti-nuclear protest in 2002 in Hitzacker

Hitzacker

Hitzacker is a town in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Elbe, approx. 8 km north of Dannenberg, and 45 km east of Lüneburg. The 2007 population of Hitzacker was 4,982, and its postal code is 29456. The mayor is Karl Guhl...

, Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

, a protestor took a case to court because she had been denied access to toilets when she was held within a police kettle. The district court found that she had been handled inhumanely and that the police had acted unlawfully.

Parliament Square Disability Rights Demonstration,1995

The kettling tactic was used in the UK against disabled people during a Disability Rights Demonstration in Parliament Square, London October 1995.

N30 anti-WTO demonstration, 1999

The kettling tactic was used in the UK at the N30 anti-WTO protest at Euston station, London (parallel to the shut-down of the meeting in Seattle) on November 30, 1999. It was a development of previously used police cordoning tactics - the difference was the long length of time, constant impermeability and the small size of the kettle.

May Day 2001

The tactic was used in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

by the London Metropolitan Police

Metropolitan Police Service

The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...

during the May Day riots of 2001 to contain demonstrators. However, the action also resulted in large numbers of bystanders as well as peaceful demonstrators being detained in Oxford Circus

Oxford Circus

Oxford Circus is the area of London at the busy intersection of Regent Street and Oxford Street, in the West End. It is served by Oxford Circus tube station, which is directly beneath the junction itself.- History :...

.

Following the use of "kettling" during the May Day protest in 2001, two people who had been corral

Corral

Corral is a town, commune and sea port in Los Ríos Region, Chile. It is located south of Corral Bay. Corral is best known for the forts of Corral Bay, a system of defensive batteries and forts made to protect Valdivia during colonial times. Corral was the headquarters of the system...

led by the police at Oxford Circus sued the Metropolitan Police for wrongful detention, alleging that it was in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights, and that they had been held without access to food, water or toilets. The pair lost their court action in 2005, and their appeal failed in 2007 when the Court of Appeal backed the High Court ruling.

In 2009, Austin v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, a ruling by the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

, decided that the High Court was entitled to take into consideration the "purpose" of the deprivation of liberty before deciding if human rights laws applied at all. Summing up, Lord Hope

David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead

James Arthur David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, is a Scottish judge and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, having previously been the Second Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.-Early life:...

said:
One of the 2001 plaintiffs now plans to take her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...

. It was reported:

G8 summit, 2005

Kettling was later used at protests against the 31st G8 summit

31st G8 summit

The 31st G8 summit was held from July 6 to July 8, 2005 at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, United Kingdom and hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair...

, held in 2005.

Gaza demonstrations, London, January 2009

Following a publicised and well attended march from the Embankment to Trafalgar Square, a group of those attending decided to march to the Israeli Embassy in Kensington. The police were not prepared for this and intially retreated, walking backwards in some cases, along Pall Mall. Several times, for no reason which was then apparent, the march was stopped by the police simply failing to move forward. With a number of halts like that the column of marchers reached Piccadilly and progressed as far as the beginning of the Hyde Park underpass, but the progress was halted by lines of police in full riot gear. The marchers were calm, peaceful and well behaved. A couple of youths who had, in the early stages, shown their frustration at the police disruption of progress by throwing empty drink cans were firmly admonished by the crowd and told not to do anything to give the police any excuses for attack.

As there seemed no hope of moving forward, a number of marchers decided to leave Piccadilly via the small entrance in the railings into Green Park. Riot police started jumping over the railings and chasing those leaving the march. In order to travel home, people went to the Hyde Park underground station, but found it was closed. The station manager explained that it had been closed because there was a riot on the streets. When told that this was not the case, he said that the police had ordered the closure because there was a riot.

At this point the police began moving forward into the underpass, followed by the marchers. The police line stopped at the exit to the underpass, thereby trapping the marchers underground with a further line of police closing off retreat back into Piccadilly. For a while nothing happened. The marchers chanted and whistles were blown, but nobody could move. There was no disturbance or disorderly conduct of any kind. Suddenly a large group, probably more than 50, of police in full riot gear charged from the west down into the underpass, batons raised. The normal uniformed police moved aside to allow the riot police to reach the crowd, many of whom were then hit with batons. A number of wounded, with blood pouring from head wounds were allowed to move west out of the underpass. George Galloway, then an MP, was one of the wounded. It was now obvious that the reason for disrupting the progress earlier was to allow the police to assemble sufficient numbers to allow them to assault the marchers, in this way

The march was then allowed to move slowly forward, surrounded completely by police. No one was allowed to leave or join the march. On the occasions when people did manage to leave, they were chased by police with shields and batons and forced back into the column of marchers. This was effectively false imprisonment any pedestrians walking in the other direction were pushed aside by the police and, in one case, a wheelchair user was tipped out of his chair by police. The crowd were angry but still very well behaved, all the violence being entirely generated by the police.

When the column was a few hundred yards from the Embassy, a signal was given by whistles and the police suddenly pulled aside, causing a dangerous surge into the crowded street before the Embassy.

The BBC reported that the crowd in the underpass had been charged "in order to deal with riotous behaviour". This is a disturbing use of presumed police press releases to establish a lie as being news. The behaviour of the police in assaulting peaceful people was equally very disturbing. There have been no reported disciplinary actions, let alone prosecutions of the police officers responsible for the assaults.

G20, 2009

Kettling was used once again during the 2009 G-20 London summit protests

2009 G-20 London summit protests

The 2009 G-20 London summit protests occurred in the days around the G-20 summit on 2 April 2009, which was the focus of protests from a number of groups over various long-standing and topical issues...

outside the Bank of England

Bank of England

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...

, as part of the police Territorial Support Group

Territorial Support Group

The Territorial Support Group is a Central Operations unit of London's Metropolitan Police Service consisting of 720 officers, that specialises in public order containment among other specialist policing. The TSG is a uniformed unit of the MPS that replaced the controversial Special Patrol Group...

's "Operation Glencoe". When police started to allow protesters to leave the kettle, they were photographed by Forward Intelligence Team

Forward Intelligence Team

Forward Intelligence Teams are two or more police officers who are deployed by UK police forces to gather intelligence on the ground and in some circumstances, to disrupt activists and deter anti-social behaviour. They use cameras, camcorders and audio recorders to conduct overt surveillance of...

s and told to give their names and addresses (which they are legally not required to do). Some refused to do so and were forced back into the kettle by police. A number of complaints over the tactic were subsequently made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission

Independent Police Complaints Commission

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.-Role:...

. Bob Broadhurst

Bob Broadhurst

Commander Bob Broadhurst, QPM is the 2012 Olympics Gold Command for the Metropolitan Police Service. He was formerly Commander for Public Order and Pan London Operational Support of London's Metropolitan Police Service.-Police career:...

, the commanding officer during the protests, said that, "kettling was the best option" to counter the potential of widespread disruption by protesters".

On April 15, 2009, Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...

ordered a review of these tactics. Criticism of the policing of demonstrations has been increasing, and amateur video footage which recorded two incidents of violent police behaviour, notably the death of Ian Tomlinson

Death of Ian Tomlinson

Ian Tomlinson was an English newspaper vendor who collapsed and died in the City of London after coming into contact with the police while on his way home from work during the 2009 G-20 summit protests. A first postmortem examination indicated he had suffered a heart attack and had died of natural...

, brought police tactics into the media spotlight. The incidents were said by Sir Paul Stephenson, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to be "clearly disturbing", and Stephenson ordered the review to consider whether the tactic is "appropriate and proportionate". The video footage also showed that police officers were concealing their shoulder identification numbers whilst on duty.

An inquiry was held by the Independent Police Complaints Commission

Independent Police Complaints Commission

(IPCC) into an incident during the G20 protests, in which a woman held in a kettle suffered injuries from police action and subsequently experienced a suspected miscarriage

Miscarriage

Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...

. The inquiry concluded in August 2009 that the Metropolitan Police should review its crowd control methods, including the tactic of kettling.

Denis O'Connor, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland in the United Kingdom have statutory responsibility for the inspection of police forces.-England and Wales:...

, said in a report concerning the policing of the G20 protests that some police commanders did not understand the House of Lords' ruling regarding kettling. He also stated that containing protestors in a kettle was "inadequate" and belonged to a "different era" of policing. He did not suggest that kettling should be abandoned however, but said that the methods must be adapted so that peaceful protesters and bystanders are able to leave the kettle. The report also commissioned a survey, conducted by MORI

MORI

Ipsos MORI is the second largest market research organisation in the United Kingdom, formed by a merger of Ipsos UK and MORI, two of the Britain's leading survey companies in October 2005...

which found that the majority of the UK public do feel that the use of kettling is appropriate in some situations. Depending on the circumstances, between 10% and 20% of those questioned feel that it is never appropriate to contain people in this way.

In April 2011, the High Court of Justice

High Court of Justice

The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...

ruled that kettling on that occasion was illegal, and it set out new guidelines as to when police were permitted to kettle protesters. This means that the police "may only take such preventive action as a last resort catering for situations about to descend into violence". Police would still legally be allowed to kettle if they had reason to believe that violence would break out.

Student protests, 2010

Kettling was used during the 24 November 2010 student protest in London and in various other locations around the country. Guardian blogger Dave Hill thought the kettling was in retrospect "probably inevitable", after the protest two weeks before had led to damage at the Conservative party headquarters. In July 2011 three school children will challenge the use of kettling of children at this protest. They will seek a Judicial Review in the High Court, arguing it broke broke the laws of the European Convention on Human Rights

European Convention on Human Rights

The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...

, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...

and the Children Act 2004

Children Act 2004

The Children Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The Act amended the Children Act 1989, largely in consequence of the Victoria Climbié inquiry....

, mainly the right to protest and the safety of children.

Kettling was used to contain student protesters in Parliament Square on 9 December 2010 and thereafter on Westminster Bridge. Protesters were trapped in Trafalgar Square and other landmarks for up to nine hours. An anaesthetist from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary working as part of a field hospital said that there was a serious health and safety risk to people trapped in the kettle and some suffered crush injuries whilst others were nearly pushed off of Westminster Bridge

Westminster Bridge

Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London, England....

into the freezing Thames, likening it to the Hillsborough disaster

Hillsborough disaster

The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....

Anti-Cuts protests, 2011

Kettling was again used at the March 2011 anti-cuts protest in London

2011 anti-cuts protest in London

The 2011 anti-cuts protest in London, also known as the March for the Alternative, was a demonstration held in central London on 26 March 2011...

. Activists were given assurances by Metropolitan police that they would be shown to safety after the protest, which was described as non-violent and sensible. Once outside, the protesters were kettled, handcuffed and taken into custody.

Occupy Wall Street, 2011

In response to the Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district...

protests in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, police have used orange mesh to contain crowds of protesters.

External links

Youtube video of police kettling action at the 'Queen and Spadina' road junction in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

during the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests
2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests
The 2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests began one week ahead of the summit of the leaders of the G-20 on June 26 and 27 in Toronto. Protests included demonstrations, rallies, marches, as well as a destructive riot that broke out on June 26 which caused vandalism to several businesses in Downtown...
Guide to Public Order Situations - UK protest guide to avoiding giving the police control in a large protest situation PDF version

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