Riot gear/tactics general.
Helmets, body armor, shields, batons, crowd control agents, crowd control tactics, protester tactics, and everything else. What's common for LEOs? What's common for protesters? What are you favorite clever /diy/ rigs or lulzworthy getups? Why do your local LARPers operate in a more efficient shield wall than your local riot cops?
>>29512369
Interesting thread.
Most countries in Europe see riots every few weeks, especially Germany, Italy and France. Football hooligans, gangs, migrants, political riots.
Germany actually is the leading force in EuroPol project when it comes to crowd/riot control.
There's police SF units in every German state, called BFE. Their job is to seek and catch rioters, with evidence to prosecute them afterwards. Their actions are "full contact combat" with batons and mace.
Italy and France see longer and more intense riots, as their riot control tactics are "disband and push" - they mostly shoot rubber bullets and tear gas at the crowds.
A guy with a medieval shield and helmet fighting the riot cops. That's pretty fucking great.
>>29512446
German riot cops also don't use shields for that reason in most situations, but body armour to stay flexible.
>>29512470
I'm guessing from his kit and the fact that it's a Ukrainian protest that he's a Battle of the Nations guy. If that's the case, fighting riot cops is one of the least badass things he does on a regular basis--still pretty fucking cool, though.
>>29512475
>>29512446
German riot control sounds pretty neato. I do judo (used to wrestle) and SCA heavy combat (essentially baton-and-shield battles with medieval-style armor) and I'm an EMT, so that'd be right up my alley. Bear-hugging protesters sounds like good fun, too bad Amerifat police forces don't have regular riots with "full contact combat" or I'd consider getting into that instead of going to med school.
>>29512369
I want to ID myself as a non-combatant protest medic; I was thinking about doing an all-white getup with some sort of red cross, possibly as integrated into the Anonymous Medics logo, but probably just the standard version. Does anyone make a white MOLLE plate carrier so I can attach my tacticool med pouches and insert foam-backed HDPE plates? How do protest medics usually keep from getting their shit kicked in?
Belgian here. A staple of serious anti-protestor gear are our water cannons. We use them A LOT, but are also very careful with ours (unlike the germans, who have "accidentally" blown out people's eyes).
They're also a very popular export products. The arabs dictators just love these puppies. :)
Another thing we frequently use against football hooligans is cavalry.
>>29512992
For denying certain escape routes, we put up these barbed wire things. They link together easily, and are fairly quick to deploy.
>>29513018
Our most hilarious confrontations are always between firemen & riot cops.
The cops use tear gas & the water cannon as needed, but the firemen retaliate with water of their own, and foam. Lots of foam.
Most of it, is in good spirit though. They do not want to harm eachother obviously.
>>29513069
Oh man, that's great. What are the confrontations usually about? Why do the riot cops even bother with the tear gas, don't the firefighters bring their SCBAs?
>>29512679
protip:they dont.
>>29513572
B-but, what about muh red cross?
>>29513503
>Oh man, that's great. What are the confrontations usually about? Why do the riot cops even bother with the tear gas, don't the firefighters bring their SCBAs?
Of course, they do.
Either way, the confrontations generally happen during protests related to better pay, too high work load, too little benefits, etc.
Since both sides are sympathetic to eachother, they don't escalate past things that don't generally hurt. But the cops can't let the firefighters hold their ground if the protest has not been approved. So they do the usual riot escalation. The firefighters "fight" back for a while, but then retreat before shit gets serious. That way neither side can say they didn't try hard enough and the public gets a funny show to watch. In the meantime, the politicians are pressured by the attention it gets and by the roads which were blocked in the meantime. (the roads blocked tend to be those around the parliament and the ministry)
pic: foam use against riot cops that aren't even wearing their helmets. It's a "you don't hurt me, I don't hurt you" thing.
>>29513725
That's super cool and sounds funny as shit to watch. How often does this happen? I'd like to go to one of these when I make it to Europe.
I can comment on that since there has been protests for a few weeks in my town.
Basically you have the police and CRS in heavy riot gear blocking every access to the old town. Every time people got close they pop some tear gas. Last week and this week some managed to gain access to the rails, fucking up traffic for hours. They got charged to shit by the crs.
But yesterday even better. Police had a chopper overhead this time. Every time the crowd switched from the allowed route they were faced by a fucking wall of crs ready to charge. It worked so well that the protesters were cornered and had no exit until the leaders negotiated a route to leave the area.
I'm on my phone so I can't post picture or maps, but it's honestly pretty funny
>>29513851
>there has been protests for a few weeks in my town
Whereabout, tovarisch?
>>29512679
wear whatever you want, you're still getting maced
>>29513949
Getting maced is fine, I'll have eye and respiratory protection. I just don't want to get clubbed in the back of the head sixteen times.
>>29514022
good luck with all that
>>29513851
>>29513890
I assume France because CRS, but here in Burgistan I haven't heard anything about any French protests. What's going on?
>>29514022
>getting maced is fine
>t. never been maced
>>29514060
I have, actually. It's unpleasant, but not the end of the world, especially with adequate protection of the mucous membranes and such.
>>29513836
>That's super cool and sounds funny as shit to watch. How often does this happen? I'd like to go to one of these when I make it to Europe.
I'd guess every 5 to 10 years for the firefighters. Last time it was because they wanted to make them work longer before they could retire.
Fights with heavy industry unions (like metal workers, dock workers, etc) are more common, and more violent.
>>29513890
France ofc
>>29514042
It started as an opposition to the reform of the works law (max hours, trial periods,...) and it snowballed in anti government protests
High schools and colleges are shut down by angry students, and they go protests/fuck shit up in the streets
It's dieing down a bit, last week was insane
There are two campuses in my town and funny enough the "liberal" one (arts, history, language) is barricaded to shit on strike day and the traditional one (science,law,econ) doesn't give a fuck
>>29513069
>tfw you will never partake in lighthearted PD vs FD water/foam fights
>>29512679
you would almost be wearing a templar cross
>>29514257
>lighthearted PD vs FD water/foam fights
Now that's an idea for a calendar fund raiser photo shoot.
Also, just join your local volunteer fire department (if they have those wherever you're from) and network outside of your region. My little bro belongs to departments in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and I think New York, and has done trainings and ridealongs in other areas (helped out in Detroit around Halloween when shit gets arsoned, did some shit in Chicago, is going out West at some point for wildland firefighting shit). With his network, if there's ever a firefighter protest stateside, he wouldn't seem out of place showing up, even just in solidarity: if there's some kind of training going on near by, he could probably even get part of his trip paid for.
>>29514265
Haha, didn't even think about that. If I were actually wanting to have fun in the shield wall, I'd legit dress up like a crusader.
>>29514211
I've never met a modern engineering student whose workload allowed time for those kind of shenanigans.
