![Kashmir 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Kashmir_2016.png)
Stone throwing or rock throwing, when it is directed at another person (called stone pelting in India), is often considered a form of criminal
battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
.
History
The throwing of rocks or stones is one of the most ancient forms of ranged-weapon combat, with stone-throwing
slings found among other weapons in the tomb of
Tutankhamen
Tutankhamun (, egy, wikt:twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an ancient Egypt, Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end ...
, who died about 1325 BC.
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Anci ...
mentions in his
Hellenica
''Hellenica'' ( grc, Ἑλληνικά) simply means writings on Greek (Hellenic) subjects. Several histories of 4th-century Greece, written in the mould of Thucydides or straying from it, have borne the conventional Latin title ''Hellenica''. Th ...
the petrobóloi ( grc, πετροβόλοι), and
Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...
in the
History of the Peloponnesian War
The ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' is a historical account of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which was fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens). It was written by Thucydides, an ...
and
Dio Cassius
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
in his Histories mention the lithobóloi ( grc, λιθοβόλοι),
both meaning stone-throwers in Greek, as army units.
De re militari
''De re militari'' (Latin "Concerning Military Matters"), also ''Epitoma rei militaris'', is a treatise by the Late Latin writer Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus about Roman warfare and military principles as a presentation of the methods and pr ...
(Latin "Concerning Military Matters") by the Roman writer
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus
Publius (or Flavius) Vegetius Renatus, known as Vegetius (), was a writer of the Later Roman Empire (late 4th century). Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what is contained in his two surviving works: ''Epitoma rei militaris'' (also re ...
details Roman soldiers training to throw stones as weapons. "Recruits are to be taught the art of throwing stones both with the hand and sling." And "Formerly all soldiers were trained to the practice of throwing stones of a pound weight with the hand, as this was thought a readier method since it did not require a sling."
Historically,
stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times.
The Torah and Ta ...
was used as a method of
human execution
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
in several cultures.
In the 18th century,
William Blackstone
Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the ''Commentaries on the Laws of England''. Born into a middle-class family i ...
stated that throwing stones in a town or city on a highway, when it caused a death, was to be defined as
manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
rather than murder.
In the 19th century, "stone throwing" was defined as a "nuisance", one of a number of offenses such as "kite-flying" and "doorbell ringing" to be handled by bylaws which differed from town to town.
Laws
Rock throwing during riots is a criminal offense, for which rock throwers can be charged with felony crimes, including assault on a law enforcement officer.
Incidents of criminal rock throwing have resulted in arrests during sports riots; especially notable are incidents of rock-throwing
football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviours perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism normally involves ...
.
Australia
In
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, Section 49A of the ''Crimes Act 1900'' provides a maximum 5-year prison sentence for "throwing rocks and other objects at vehicles and vessels".
India
Throwing of stones at Indian Armed Forces and Police is frequent in
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
. Usually carried out by youths, in the local language it is called "Kanni Jung", which means ''fighting with stones'' and the stone pelters are called as ''Sangbaaz''.
There are claims that the rocks are thrown in response to killings of Kashmiri separatists at the hands of forces.
New Zealand
Individuals who throw rocks at cars can serve 14 years for endangering transport.
Turkey
Turkey presses charges and imposes prison sentences for the crime of being part of a group throwing stones at police, even when the rock-throwers are 15 years of age and younger.
The
Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being:
* Justice and Development Party (Morocco)
* Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
Justice and Development Party may also refer to:
* Justice and Dev ...
(AKP) introduced a range of legal measures criminalizing both
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
political claims and protest activities by the
Kurdistan Workers' Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...
(PKK). The harsh sentences handed down against stone-throwing children (''taş atan çocuklar'') led to a public outcry and to an amendment reducing the length of the sentences on the grounds that it was inappropriate from "a criminal justice point of view."
United Kingdom
Expansive legislation on public disorder introduced in 1986 allows stone throwers to be sentenced on average to years in prison if the criminal justice system can prove that the action took place in a riot.
United States
In the U.S., charges vary by state. Depending upon the facts and jurisdiction, potential charges could include
disorderly conduct
Disorderly conduct is a crime in most jurisdictions in the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan. Typically, "disorderly conduct" makes it a crime to be drunk in public, to " disturb the peace", or to loiter in certain are ...
,
assault
An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...
, and
battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
.
In the United States individuals throwing rocks at another person can be arrested and charged with assault, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.
As a 15-year-old, actor
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...
was charged in 2 separate incidents of throwing rocks and shouting racial
epithets
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
at African-American children.
Rock-throwing can be a
felony
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...
and rock-throwers could face criminal charges, dependent on the circumstances that may include
second degree murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
,
[ aggravated assault, throwing a missile into an occupied vehicle, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment of life, and aggravated assault with a lethal weapon.] Punishment upon conviction varies as with all punishments for all crimes. A Florida judge sentenced a teenager to serve life in prison for murder by throwing rocks at cars. A New England judge, ruling on teenagers convicted of throwing stones at the windows of passing trains that resulted in eye injuries to passengers, sentenced the convicted to be kept in an eye-injury ward of a hospital for two weeks with their eyes bandaged to make them understand the consequence of their delinquency. Rock throwers can be charged, tried, and convicted even when no injuries or damage result. Under American law they can receive very long sentences and even be sentenced to life in prison. Under American law, individuals who were part of a group engaged in rock-throwing can be convicted and imprisoned even if they did not personally throw any missiles.
Vietnam
Youths convicted of "vandalism and battery" for throwing stones at vehicles have been imprisoned.
Contexts
Rock-throwing may occur in a variety of contexts but is often associated with assaultive offenses, demonstrations and riots, and international conflicts.
At people
Rock-throwing can be used by thieves, as was demonstrated by a 2015 case in India in which Ratan Marwadi, 45, was charged with throwing rocks at a random passer-by, Darshana Pawar, to disable and rob her. Pawar was killed by Ratan Marwadi, who had served time in jail for pelting rail commuters with stones with the intent of robbing them.
Vehicles
Motor vehicles
Rocks thrown at cars moving along highways at high speeds have been a problem in a number of countries.[ ] According to the Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, police detective Jarrett Crippen, "When we’re talking about highway speeds of 60, 70 mph, that rock is hitting you full-force.... If it's coming through your windshield, it can cause serious damage to the body, vehicle or even death." A Washington State trooper said of an arrest of criminal rock-throwers, "Any one of these rocks could have punctured a windshield, hit the driver in the face and killed them." Although the rocks are often thrown from overpasses or high points along the roadside, people riding in cars have also been killed by rocks thrown at random vehicles from passing cars.
Notable instances of death and injury caused by rocks thrown at cars include the death of Julie Catherine Laible
Julie Catherine Laible (December 20, 1966March 28, 1999) was a professor at University of Alabama killed by a large rock thrown at her car from an overpass while she was driving along Interstate 75 in Manatee County, Florida, on March 28, 1999. ...
, a professor at the University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...
, the Darmstadt American rock-throwing incident in which American teenagers killed a 20-year-old woman and critically injured her grandmother, then hit another car, killing the 41-year-old mother of 2 small children,[ ] the death of Chris Currie, 20, on a road in New Zealand,[ the ]Killing of David Wilkie
David James Wilkie (9 July 1949 – 30 November 1984) was a Welsh taxi driver who was killed during the miners' strike in the United Kingdom, when two striking miners dropped a concrete block from a footbridge onto his taxi whilst he was drivin ...
by striking miners throwing rocks at cars in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, and the I-80 rock throwing
On July 10, 2014, four teenagers who were throwing rocks from an overpass above Interstate 80 (I-80) in Union County, Pennsylvania, critically injured and permanently disfigured a passenger in a car on the highway. The high-profile rock-throw ...
in which youths hurled rocks from an overpass on Interstate 80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...
in Pennsylvania, critically injuring and permanently disfiguring a passenger. In 2017, a single American highway, Interstate 75
Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...
, was the scene of 2017 Interstate 75 rock-throwing deaths in two separate incidents.
Trains
Throwing rocks at trains has long been a problem in countries including the United States and New Zealand, where passengers and train crews have been injured by large rocks thrown through windows.
Protests and riots
Rock-throwing has been in the past often adopted as a method by an unarmed population to protest a governing power's authority. Under English common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
, soldiers were not permitted to shoot at civilians engaged in that kind of protest unless their lives were in danger or they had obtained an express order from a civil magistrate. At one point, when town officials tried to arrest a British officer who was commanding the guard at Boston Neck, Captain Ponsonby Molesworth intervened to confront a stone-throwing crowd. Molesworth ordered the soldiers to bayonet anyone throwing stones who got too close. A Boston justice told him that, under common law, a bayonet thrust was not an act of self-defense against a stone, which was not a lethal weapon. Had a soldier killed anyone, Molesworth could have been tried for his life.'[John Murrin, Paul Johnson, James McPherson, Alice Fahs, Gary Gerstle]
: ''Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People,''
Cengage Learning, 2011 p.183
Political demonstrations in many countries have resulted with the arrest of violent protestors for throwing rocks and other objects at police.
Many notorious and deadly riots have begun with or included rock-throwing as violence escalated, including the Toronto Jubilee riots
{{One source, date=February 2022
The Jubilee riots of 1875 were an outbreak of Protestant-Catholic sectarian violence in Toronto. The riots happened during a series of Catholic religious pilgrimages related to the Jubilee year declared by Pope Pi ...
, the Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre (known in Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hu ...
, and the 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots
In response to anti-protest laws in Ukraine (announced on 16 January 2014 and enacted on 21 January 2014), a standoff between protesters and police began on 19 January 2014 that was precipitated by a series of riots in central Kyiv on Hrushe ...
in Ukraine.
International borders
United States – Mexico
Rock-throwers on the Mexican side of the border between the United States and Mexico frequently target US Border Patrol
The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States' Customs and Border Protection and is responsible for securing the borders of the United States. According to its web site in 2022, its mission ...
agents with barrages of rocks to prevent them from apprehending individuals illegally crossing the border, particularly smugglers moving illegal drugs or illegal migrants across the border. Between 2010 and 2014, Border Patrol agents were assaulted with rocks 1,700 times and fired weapons at rock throwers 43 times, resulting in 10 deaths. Border Patrol agents are permitted to respond to rock-throwers with lethal weapons, but as of 2014, the policy is to attempt to avoid finding themselves in situations in which responding to rock-throwing with lethal force becomes necessary.
Spain – Morocco
In recent years, increasing numbers of undocumented sub-Saharan Africans have passed through Morocco attempting to reach European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
countries, and many attempt to enter Spanish soil at two Spanish enclaves, Melilla
Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...
and Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...
, on the African side of the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
. On several occasions, Moroccan and Spanish border authorities have defended lethal violence against African illegal immigrants
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...
near the Melilla border fence
The Melilla border fence forms part of the Morocco–Spain border in the city of Melilla, one of two Spanish cities in north Africa. Constructed by Spain, its stated purpose is to stop illegal immigration and smuggling. Melilla's border and i ...
and Ceuta border fence
The Ceuta border fence forms part of the Morocco–Spain border at Ceuta, a city on the North African coast. Constructed by Spain, its purpose is to prevent smuggling and to stop migrants from entering Europe. Morocco objected to the constructi ...
by asserting that groups of migrants attempting to storm the border in mass-entry events had thrown rocks to drive border guards away from the gates.
Egypt – Gaza
Stone throwing rioters have repeatedly clashed with Egyptian troops at the Egypt-Gaza border.
* In 2008, Gazans assaulted Egyptian border guards by throwing barrages of rocks over the low concrete border wall topped with barbed wire, tore down a section of the wall, and opened a road and moving goods and people across for several hours before the Egyptian Army, without using lethal force, managed to regain control of the border.
* On 6 January 2010, Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
called on Gazans to protest the Egyptian border blockade. Gazan men responded by massing at the border and throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails
A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flammab ...
at the Egyptian security forces, who responded with gunfire.[ ]
Hungary – Serbia
In the 2015 Horgoš riot during the European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...
, illegal immigrants
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...
at the Hungarian southern border fence threw rocks and chunks of concrete at Hungarian border police.
Prevention
In Florida, statewide policy is to install fences on highly trafficked overpasses and those near schools. An exception is Manatee County
Manatee County is a county in the Central Florida portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county s ...
, where all overpasses have it due to a rock-throwing death in 1999.
See also
* Serhildan
The word serhildan describes several Kurdish protests and uprisings since the 1990s that used the slogan "''Êdî Bese''" ("Enough") against Turkey. Local shops are often closed on the day of demonstrations as a form of protest.
Protests are ...
* Jewish Israeli stone throwing
Jewish Israeli stone-throwing refers to criminal rock-throwing activity by Jewish Israelis in Mandatory Palestine, Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. It includes material about internecine stone-throwing, in which Haredi Judaism, ...
* Palestinian stone throwing
* Egging
Egging is the act of throwing eggs at people or property. The eggs are usually raw, but can be hard-boiled or rotten.
The egging of politicians is a well-known form of protest, and egging cars or houses can be done as a form of vandalism, with ...
* Acid throwing
An acid attack, also called acid throwing, vitriol attack, or vitriolage, is a form of violent assault involving the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim, tortu ...
References
{{Reflist
Assault
Violence
Protest tactics