G20 climate camp police kettling protesters

Kettling (also known as containment or corralling) is a

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

tactic Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tact ...

for controlling large crowds during demonstrations or

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

s. It involves the formation of large cordons of police officers who then move to contain a crowd within a limited area. Protesters either leave through an exit controlled by the police, leave through an uncontrolled gap in the cordons, or are contained, prevented from leaving, and arrested. The tactic has proved controversial, in part because it has resulted in the detention of ordinary bystanders as well as protesters. In March 2012 kettling was ruled lawful by the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

following a legal challenge.

Tactics

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

kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...

. Its modern English usage may come from " kessel"literally a cauldron, or kettle in Germanthat 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. Although large groups are difficult to control, this can be done by

concentrations In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', ''molar concentration'', ''number concentration'', an ...

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. The cordon is then maintained for a number of hours, during which it may be reduced in size. It varies as to whether protestors are entirely prevented from leaving, or allowed to leave in controlled numbers through a designated exit. The aim is to contain the protestors until they are no longer in the mood for protesting and want to go home, at which point the cordon is lifted.

Peter Waddington Peter Anthony James "Tank" Waddington (6 March 1947 – 21 March 2018), often credited as P. A. J. Waddington was a police officer and later an academic at the University of Wolverhampton, Kettling has been criticized for being an indiscriminate tactic which leads to the detention of law-abiding citizens and innocent bystanders. In some cases protesters are reported to have been denied access to food, water and toilet facilities for long periods. 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. In England, courts have ruled that kettling is permitted if it is used in good faith, proportionate and enforced for no longer than was reasonably necessary.

By country

Australia

On 3 November 2020, in Melbourne, Victoria, 395 people protesting against the state government were arrested after being kettled for four hours.

Canada

On 27 June 2010, 200 persons, including protesters, bystanders and news reporters, were kettled in Toronto at the intersection of Queen Street and Spadina Avenue during the G20 summit protests. 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. In August 2015, police superintendent David 'Mark' Fenton was convicted of two charges of unlawful arrest and one charge of discreditable conduct, disciplinary offences under the ''Police Act'', for ordering the kettling in 2010. However, the judge convicting Fenton also made it clear that "containing or kettling is not illegal". On 15 March 2011, 250–300 protesters in Montréal were kettled on St-Denis just north of Mont Royal during the Annual March Against Police Brutality. Police used

stun grenade A stun grenade, also known as a flash grenade, flashbang, thunderflash, or sound bomb, is a Non-lethal weapon, less-lethal explosive device used to temporarily disorient an enemy's senses. Upon detonation, they produce a blinding flash of light a ...

s, riot gear, and horses to kettle the crowd. On 23 May 2012, police in Montréal moved in on student protesters, kettling them and making 518 arrests—the largest number in one night since the student protests began weeks earlier. On 15 March 2013, at the annual police brutality march, the police kettled a group of protesters on Ste-Catherine street in Montréal after the march was declared illegal for not presenting an itinerary before the protest. After almost two hours of attempting to break up the groups protesting, the police closed in and arrested anyone caught in the kettle. At the end of the evening, police stated that there were around 250 arrests, two injured police officers, and one protester who was unwell.

Denmark

Between 250 and 1000 non-violent protesters at the

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 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Partie ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

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

Finland

Finnish anarchist demonstration

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was prevented from taking place when 200 riot police and hundreds of other police and

Finnish Border Guard The Finnish Border Guard (; ) is the agency responsible for enforcing the security of Finland's borders. It is a military organisation, subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior in administrative issues and to the President of Finland in issue ...

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

Kiasma ) , established = (Museum of Contemporary Art) (opening of Kiasma building) , dissolved = , location = Helsinki, Finland , type = Art museum , accreditation = , key_holdings = , co ...

in downtown

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

for more than three hours on 9 September 2006.

France

On the Guillotière bridge In

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

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

Place Bellecour Place Bellecour is a large square in the centre of Lyon, France, to the north of the Ainay district. Measuring 312 m by 200 m (62,000 m² or 15 acres), it is one of the largest open squares (without any patches of greenery or trees) in ...

, about 500 citizens and protesters defending the public pension 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 Law enforcement in Germany is constitutionally vested solely with the states, which is one of the main features of the German political system. Policing has always been a responsibility of the German states even after 1871 when the country was ...

in 1986. During a demonstration by

anti-nuclear The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, natio ...

protesters at

Heiligengeistfeld Heiligengeistfeld (German: "Holy Ghost Field") is an area of Hamburg in the St. Pauli quarter. The ''Hamburger Dom'' funfair has been held there since 1893. When the area is not used for exhibitions, circuses or the Dom it is a car park. A buildi ...

, Hamburg on 8 May,

Hamburg Police The Hamburg Police (german: Hamburger Polizei or ) is the German Landespolizei force for the city-state of Hamburg. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state (Land) agencies. A precursor to the agency, the ''Polizei-Behörd ...

cordoned approximately 800 people into a "kettle" for several hours. German kettling tactics distinguish a stationary form of detention () and a mobile form, in which protesters are enclosed by a mobile police cordon while they march (). 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 was ruled unlawful by the

administrative court An administrative court is a type of court specializing in administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are considered s ...

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 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 posta ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, a protester 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.

Israel

During the protests over the killing of demonstrators along the fence with Gaza, the

Israeli police The Israel Police ( he, משטרת ישראל, ''Mišteret Yisra'el''; ar, شرطة إسرائيل, ''Shurtat Isrāʼīl'') is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fightin ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

used kettling tactics twice. Dozens were arrested after being locked in a kettle for hours. Among those kettled were also MKs from The Joint List. In the summer of 2020 during mass demonstrations in front of the Prime Minister's official residence, the Israeli police used the tactic several times and prevented demonstrators wishing to leave the demonstration compound from leaving. Criticism had been leveled at the fact that the tactic is used to deter protesters from reaching the protest and due to the dangerous high density creates in the context of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Spain

On 16 May 2012, Acampada Sol called for a because the Spanish

risk premium A risk premium is a measure of excess return that is required by an individual to compensate being subjected to an increased level of risk. It is used widely in finance and economics, the general definition being the expected risky return less t ...

exceeded 500 points that day. The demonstrators were marching through Calle Alcalá, in Madrid, when police forces surrounded them for more than 30 minutes; after the kettled protesters asked for solidarity through the Internet, several additional hundred people gathered outside of the kettle. Around 500 demonstrators waited seated on the pavement until the police forces finally removed the blockade, allowing them to leave the area and return to

Puerta del Sol The Puerta del Sol (English: "Gate of the Sun") is a public square in Madrid, one of the best known and busiest places in the city. This is the centre ('' Km 0'') of the radial network of Spanish roads. The square also contains the famous clo ...

. During the nonviolent demonstrations in Catalonia, following the arrest of exiled president Carles Puigdemont by German authorities in 2018, police used kettling as a way of breaking up the protests.

United Kingdom

Miners' strike, 1984

The

Battle of Orgreave The Battle of Orgreave was a violent confrontation on 18 June 1984 between pickets and officers of the South Yorkshire Police (SYP) and other police forces, including the Metropolitan Police, at a British Steel Corporation (BSC) coking plant a ...

, a violent day in the year–long miners' strike in Great Britain in 1984–85, has been cited as an early example of police kettling a crowd of protesters.

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 Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and it contai ...

, London, in 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 30 November 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 by the London

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

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 is a road junction connecting Oxford Street and Regent Street in the West End of London. It is also the entrance to Oxford Circus tube station. The junction opened in 1819 as part of the Regent Street development under John Nash, ...

G8 summit, 2005

Kettling was later used at protests against the 31st G8 summit, held in 2005.

G20, 2009

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

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 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

, as part of the police

Territorial Support Group The Territorial Support Group (TSG) is a Met Operations unit of London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which specialises in public order policing, amongst other specialist areas. In 2012 it consisted of 793 officers and 29 support staff. Th ...

's "Operation Glencoe". When police started to allow protesters to leave the kettle, they were photographed by Forward Intelligence Teams and told to give their names and addresses. 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 The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was 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. On 8 January 2018, th ...

Bob Broadhurst Commander Robert James Broadhurst was 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 Bro ...

, the commanding officer during the protests, said that, "kettling was the best option" to counter the potential of widespread disruption by protesters". On 15 April 2009,

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

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

death of Ian Tomlinson Ian Tomlinson (7 February 1962 – 1 April 2009) was a newspaper vendor who collapsed and died in the City of London after being struck by a police officer during the 2009 G-20 summit protests. After an inquest jury returned a verdict of ...

, brought police tactics into the media spotlight. The incidents were said by Sir Paul Stephenson,

Metropolitan Police Commissioner The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service. Sir Mark Rowley was appointed to the post on 8 July 2022 after Dame Cressida Dick announced her resignation in February. The rank of Commissione ...

, 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

(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, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemical lo ...

. 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, 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 protesters in a kettle was "inadequate" and belonged to a "different era" of policing. He did not suggest that kettling should be abandoned but rather 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 is a Japanese and Italian surname, and also a Persian pet name for Morteza. It is also the name of two clans in Japan, and one clan in India. Italian surname *Barbara Mori, Uruguayan-Mexican actress * Camilo Mori, Chilean painter * Cesare ...

, 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 The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

ruled that kettling on that occasion was illegal, and it set out new guidelines as to when police were permitted to kettle protesters. The Court ruled that the police "may only take such preventive action as a last resort catering for situations about to descend into violence". The ruling was overturned on appeal, with

Lord Neuberger David Edmond Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury (; born 10 January 1948) is an English judge. He served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2012 to 2017. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until the House of L ...

LJ stating that the High Court erred in assessing the reasonableness of kettling using their own view rather than assessing the reasonableness of the decision of the officer in charge at the time.

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 challenged the use of kettling of children at this protest. They sought a judicial review in the High Court, arguing it broke the laws of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...

, the

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Con ...

and the

Children Act 2004 The Children Act 2004 (c 31) 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. The Act is now the basis for most official administration that i ...

, 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

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the H ...

into the freezing Thames, likening it to the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the ...

Anti-Cuts protests, 2011

Kettling was again used at the

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. Organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), it was a protest march against planned public spendi ...

. 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.

Legal challenges

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

corral A pen is an enclosure for holding livestock. It may also perhaps be used as a term for an enclosure for other animals such as pets that are unwanted inside the house. The term describes types of enclosures that may confine one or many animal ...

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 The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...

, 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''

009 009 may refer to: * OO9, gauge model railways * O09, FAA identifier for Round Valley Airport * 0O9, FAA identifier for Ward Field, see List of airports in California * British secret agent 009, see 00 Agent * BA 009, see British Airways Flight 9 * ...

UKHL 5, a ruling by the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

, 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 said: A plaintiff from the 2001 protest, along with three non-protesting members of the public who had been kettled by police, took an appeal to the

, claiming that kettling violated

Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Art.5 ECHR for short) provides that everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. Liberty and security of the person are taken as a "compound" concept - security of the person has no ...

, the right to liberty and security. Whereas the House of Lords "accepted she was a lawful and peaceful demonstrator prevented by her detention from collecting her child", in March 2012 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that kettling was lawful and that the Metropolitan Police were entitled to detain groups of people as "the least intrusive and most effective means to protect the public from violence". On the issues related to the European Convention on Human Rights, the court ruled:

United States

Anti-Globalization movement, Washington D.C., 2002

As part of ongoing anti-globalization demonstrations and early demonstrations against the impending invasion of Iraq, several hundred protesters and bystanders were kettled in

Pershing Park The National World War I Memorial is a national memorial commemorating the service rendered by members of the United States Armed Forces in World War I. The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the World War I Centennial Commiss ...

and subsequently arrested by DC Police, resulting in large, sometimes record-breaking class-action settlements and ongoing litigation to restrict the practice.

Iraq War protest, Chicago, 2003

In 2012 the City of Chicago agreed to a $6.2 million class-action settlement over the

mass arrest A mass arrest occurs when police apprehend large numbers of suspects at once. This sometimes occurs at protests. Some mass arrests are also used in an effort to combat gang activity. This is sometimes controversial, and lawsuits sometimes result. ...

of protesters and passersby kettled during a massive protest marking the start of the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. After previously halting and turning around as many as 8,000 marchers near the intersection of Oak Street and Michigan Avenue, for several hours the

Chicago Police Department The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind t ...

(CPD) unlawfully detained over 1,000 people kettled on

Chicago Avenue Chicago Avenue is a major east–west street in Chicago, Illinois that runs at 800 north from 385 east to 5968 west in the Chicago street address system from which point it enters the suburbs and goes into several different suburban address ...

between Michigan and Mies van der Rohe Way, ultimately arresting over 900 people without probable cause.

Republican National Convention, New York City, 2004

The

New York Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

(NYPD) used orange mesh snow fencing on several occasions to cordon and corral protesters at various locations during the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

(RNC).

Occupy Wall Street, 2011

In response to the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

(OWS) protests in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, police used orange mesh snow fencing to contain crowds of and to mass arrest protesters.

Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, 2017

Police officers in the District of Columbia used kettling on a large group of protesters at the intersection of 12th and L streets on 20 January 2017. Among those detained and later charged were several journalists, who were accused of felony rioting. The charges were later dropped en masse.

St. Louis, 2017

The

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department The Metropolitan Police Department of the City of St. Louis (also known as the SLMPD or Metro) is the primary law enforcement agency for the U.S. city of St. Louis. According to the Mapping Police Violence dataset, SLMPD has the highest polic ...

(SLMPD) and other agencies (including the

St. Louis County Police Department The St. Louis County Police Department (SLCPD) is the primary and largest law enforcement agency serving St. Louis County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The current Chief of Police is Colonel Kenneth Gregory. According to the Charter of St. L ...

(SLCPD) and the

Missouri State Highway Patrol The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) is the highway patrol agency for Missouri and has jurisdiction all across the state. It is a division of the Missouri Department of Public Safety. Colonel Eric T. Olson has been serving as the 24th supe ...

(MSHP)), conducted two kettles in St. Louis on September 17 and October 3 during the protests of 2017 following the acquittal of former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley in the

shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith Anthony Lamar Smith was a 24-year-old African American man from St. Louis, Missouri, who was shot and killed by then St. Louis Police officer Jason Stockley following a car chase on December 20, 2011. On September 15, 2017, Stockley was found ...

. Over one hundred people were arrested in each instance. Ten journalists were arrested, six of these allege being beaten and/or pepper sprayed, and an undercover police officer was also arrested and beaten.

Riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police who act in the role of riot police in particular situations or they may be separate units organize ...

and bicycle units pepper sprayed and beat many people on 17 September, triggering over a dozen lawsuits and an FBI/DOJ investigation that led to federal indictments of four SLMPD officers who put undercover officer Luther Hall in the hospital, who himself previously was sued twice for beating a disabled man and for violating the civil rights of protesters.

George Floyd and Breonna Taylor protests, 2020

In May and June 2020, many cities in the United States experienced nationwide protests, rioting and looting following the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...

by a policeman in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Police responded aggressively to both the riots and nonviolent protesters, the latter in violation of first amendment protections. Police in some jurisdictions used kettling to trap and attack protesters using weapons such as

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

pepper spray Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, or capsicum spray is a lachrymatory agent (a compound that irritates the eyes to cause a burning sensation, pain, and temporary blindness) used in policing, riot control, cr ...

rubber bullet Rubber bullets (also called rubber baton rounds) are a type of baton round. Despite the name, rubber bullets typically have either a metal core with a rubber coating, or are a homogeneous admixture with rubber being a minority component. Altho ...

s, and batons. Kettling was used extensively by the NYPD to prevent protesters from spreading over more city streets; they were subsequently arrested for violating a legal curfew order. On 2 June 2020, the New York City Police Department trapped 5,000 protestors on the

Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is long, with the suspension cables be ...

for nearly an hour before letting them disperse to the Brooklyn side of the bridge. In Washington, D.C., on 1 June 2020, police kettled 60 protesters into a house on Swann Street, making repeated attempts to extract them. The protesters were able to leave the next morning when curfew lifted. The

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) is the police department of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States, which includes the City of Charlotte. With 1,817 officers and 525 civilian staff as of 2020, covering an area of wi ...

(CMPD) in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

on the night of 2 June boxed in a crowd of marching protesters which was characterized as peaceful At the front of the march officers fired tear gas and flash bangs, flanked by riot police on the back of the march, in a location where marchers were pinched between structures on each side. Police allegedly fired tear gas, pepper balls, and rubber bullets indiscriminately. Officials denied these operations as kettling but radio communications indicated a coordinated corralling and punishment plan was carried out, and that officers were celebrated jovially. It was also used in Dallas on the

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is a bridge in Dallas, Texas, that spans the Trinity River. The bridge is named for Margaret Hunt Hill, an heiress and philanthropist. The bridge was constructed as part of the Trinity River Project. Designed by Sant ...

in which protesters were tear gassed and zip tied before being detained. Kettling and mass arrests also were conducted in Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland Oregon, and Des Moines. Kettling was used extensively in Louisville during the

Breonna Taylor protests The Breonna Taylor protests were a series of police brutality protests surrounding the killing of Breonna Taylor. Taylor was a 26-year-old African-American woman who was fatally shot by plainclothes officers of the Louisville Metro Police Depar ...

, including surrounding a church sheltering protesters several times in the days following the grand jury decision in September and arresting people en masse when they tried to leave. On 4 November 2020, 646 protestors in Minneapolis were kettled on a highway and arrested while protesting against Donald Trump's threats to challenge the US election, as well as social injustices.

Brooklyn Center, Minnesota: Daunte Wright protests, 2021

During early–mid April 2021, protests regarding the killing of Daunte Wright were held several nights in a row outside the

Brooklyn Center Police Department Brooklyn () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county i ...

. On the night of 16 April, police declared it an unlawful gathering and used flash-bangs and smoke grenades. Chemical weapons such as tear gas and/or pepper spray were also used in order to control the protesters. Shortly after—the city having declared an 11:00 pm curfew at 10:40 PM—the protesters were kettled as they tried to leave the scene. 136 out of "several hundred" protesters were arrested.

References

External links

{{Wiktionary
YouTube video
of police kettling action at the 'Queen and Spadina' road junction in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

during the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests
Guide to Public Order Situations
- UK protest guide to avoiding giving the police control in a large protest situatio
PDF version
Crowd control Law enforcement in the United Kingdom Imprisonment and detention Metropolitan Police Human rights in the United Kingdom