INTRODUCTION
GAIN ATTENTION
PURPOSE
To provide the student with the basic knowledge in handling acts of minor aggression in an urban environment.
INDIVIDUAL TRAINING STANDARDS
MISSION PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
P2A.18.7, P2A.18.8, P2A.18.9
TERMINAL LEARNING OBJECTIVE
In accordance with FM 19-15 and without the aid of reference, the student will prepare and control a Marine patrol during a minor aggression demonstration.
ENABLING LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Know the two types of crowds.
2. Know the tactics of violence that may be used by a crowd.
3. Know and demonstrate the immediate action drills that are used during a
minor aggression incident.
METHOD AND MEDIA
This period of instruction will be taught by the lecture method aided by assistant instructors.
TESTING
This period of instruction will be tested during practical application exercises.
TRANSITION
BODY
1. Acts of minor aggression typically occur in a particular environment. This environment is normally a fusing of a cause of some sort, a location conducive to aggression and the presence of willing participants.
a. Common Factors:
1) Participants can come from all walks of life - a cut across the social
spectrum.
2) This includes the political spectrum - from the far left to the far right.
3) This also includes a range from special interest groups to the unemployed -
a motivation factor is present.
4) Can represent all age groups and be male or female.
5) Motivation can vary across many causes - environmentalists, antinuclear
activists, or opponents of U.S. domestic or foreign policy.
2. The crowd itself can vary, it may simply be made up of curious onlookers that get swept up in the excitement of the moment or may include demonstrators and counter-demonstrators. Regardless, social and psychological factors, as well as local stimuli, can turn a large gathering of relatively law abiding people into a violence prone mass.
3. The Two Types of Crowds:
a. Casual Crowd- no common bond.
b. Planned Crowds - common bonds of interest and purpose.
It is important to remember that simply being part of a crowd will affect the
emotions and actions of every person belonging to that crowd.
4. Common Crowd Emotions:
a. A sense of anonymity.
b. Feelings of moral responsibility shifted from personal to the crowd as a
whole.
5. Individual Behavior:
Crowd behavior influences the actions of everyone associated with a civil disturbance. This includes the crowd members and members of the unit or agency tasked to control the crowd. As a rule crowd participants are normally:
a. Orderly.
b. Law abiding.
c. Non-threatening to life and/or property.
d. Non-problematic to authorities.
6. Collective Behavior:
Sometimes a crowd's collective behavior may escalate to a point that is not in the common interest of maintaining law and order. The possibility of an escalation of an orderly demonstration into an aggressive collective or riot is always present. Typically, a minor aggression occurs when the crowd involved:
a. Gathers to air grievances on the issues at hand and then transfers its
anger from the actual grievances to the people/agencies dealing with the
grievances.
b. Swells uncontrollably as the "ranks" are joined by curious bystanders and
sympathetic onlookers.
c. Is incited to irrational or illegal action by skilled agitators.
d. Gets caught up in the emotional "moment" and adopts irrational; behavior
and becomes a mob.
e. Consists of two or more groups with opposing views and they become engaged
in a confrontation that begins with rhetoric and escalates to violence.
7. Crowd Tactics:
a. During civil disturbances, crowds may employ any number of tactics to resist control or to achieve their goals. Tactics may be unplanned or planned, nonviolent or violent. The more purposeful the disturbance, the more likely the possibility of well planned tactics.
b. Nonviolent tactics may range from name-calling to building barricades. Verbal abuse can include obscene remarks, taunts, ridicule and jeers. Crowd members use verbal abuse to anger and demoralize their opposition. In some cases, they may want to provoke action on part of their opposition and exploit these actions later as acts of brutality.
c. Sometimes women, children and elderly people are placed in the front ranks of the crowd. This tactic is often used to play on the control force’s sympathy and to discourage countermeasures. When countermeasures are taken, agitators may take photographs to stir public displeasure and to embarrass the control force. Demonstrators may also form human barricades.
d. Violent crowd tactics, which may be extremely destructive, can include physical attacks on people and property, arson and bombings. Crowd use of violent tactics is limited only by the attitudes and ingenuity of crowd members, the training of their leaders, and the materials available to them. Crowd or mob members may commit violence with crude, homemade weapons, or they may employ sophisticated small arms and explosives. If unplanned violence occurs, a crowd will use rocks, bricks, bottles or anything else at hand, if violence is planned, a crowd can easily conceal makeshift weapons or tools for vandalism. Some examples include:
1) Balloons filled with paint.
2) Bolt cutters to cut through fences.
3) Picket signs to be used as clubs.
4) Pipes wrapped in newspapers to be used as missiles.
5) Firecrackers dipped in glue and covered with BBs or small nails to be used as grenades.
6) Plywood shields and motorcycle helmets to protect against riot batons.
7) Safety goggles to protect against teat gas.
8. Minor Aggression Immediate Actions:
a. Urban patrols must be prepared to react to spontaneous aggression. In many cases civil disturbances are organized by the enemy to draw dismounted patrols into a target area or to distract them from enemy activity occurring elsewhere.
b. Civil disturbances are generally divided into two categories:
1) Minor aggression – characterized by limited rock throwing or use of devices such as Molotov cocktails. This type of aggression may be directed at the patrol or take place between sectors of the population. Minor aggression civil disturbances are normally spontaneous in nature and have minimal or limited objectives.
2) Full-scale rioting – usually in response to a major event or incident. Full-scale riots are well planned and orchestrated, with clear objectives or targets in mind.
c. At times, patrols will need to attempt to maintain control of the civil disturbance situation, but as a general rule dismounted and small unit patrols should avoid potential flash points. Procedures to handle civil disturbances are as follows:
1) Patrol leader reports incident to higher headquarters and attempts to diffuse the situation by talking to the crowd leaders.
2) If the patrol leader determines the size of the disturbance is too large for his force, he should move the patrol away from the disturbance to a safer, more covered area and occupy positions to observe and make situation reports to higher headquarters. To prevent the patrol from being pursued by the crowd, the patrol must move quickly and change direction often at road junctions to gain distance from the crowd.
3) Patrol members must maintain dispersion to create a more difficult target. They should also face the crowd at all times enabling them to spot and avoid any projectiles thrown at the patrol. Individual self-discipline must be maintained throughout the disturbance. Marines charging into a crowd or throwing objects back at the crowd will only play into the hands of the crowd leaders and make a bad situation worse.
4) If pursued or trapped, the patrol may consider using riot control agents to disperse the crowd or to slow the crowd’s movement. The use of riot control agents must be authorized by the established Rules of Engagement (ROE).
5) If the patrol leader senses that the situation is deteriorating beyond his patrol’s ability to control, he should request the reaction force.
9. Controlled Move Back:
Once a break point has been selected a controlled move back is conducted. This is carried out as follows:
a. The patrol regroups – patrol personnel re-group and establish rear and flank protection for the withdraw.
b. A buffer zone is created – to avoid being hit by projectiles thrown by the crowd. Maintain this buffer zone with the minimum needed force.
c. Vulnerable flanks are covered – by choosing routes that are covered and avoid road junctions if required. The squad leader designates the flank security. Never turn backs on the crowd or run.
13. The Reaction Force:
a. The reaction force is dispatched on foot, by vehicle or by air. Some considerations include:
1) If by foot – the required distance to be covered and the availability of a clear route and alternated routes.
2) If by vehicle – positioning the vehicle(s) once on scene.
3) If by air – the distance from the HLZ to the incident point, the anti-air threat and the weather.
15. Equipment:
a. Fire extinguishers should be placed in the reaction vehicle. They are only used to aid a Marine who has been engulfed in flames.
b. All personnel within the patrol must wear issued uniforms. If there is warning that there is a chance of minor aggression visors and nape protectors should be worn while on patrol.
QUESTIONS
SUMMARY
The MOUT Homepage Hot Links:
U.S. Army FM 19-15 Civil Disturbances
Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for Civil Disturbances (Operation Joint Endeavor)
Riot Response: An Innovative Approach (Police)
Crowd Control Measures (Lesson Guide)
Understanding Riots (Cato Journal)
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