Social unrest seems to be at an all-time high, and it doesn’t take much for a full-blown riot to erupt. From people rioting after their favorite team wins a sporting event to angry mobs flooding the streets in violent protest over a social injustice, riots are a growing problem that can affect people throughout the world.
Even more troubling is the rise of something called a flash mob; a kind of riot that is actually highly organized and usually preplanned through social media. In recent years, flash mobs have become a growing problem that can quickly overtake entire malls, businesses, or other public venues. If you are unfortunate to be caught in the middle of one of these events, the violence and sheer chaos is enough to intimidate even the most prepared person.
While riots are extremely dangerous and unpredictable events, there are some things you can do to protect yourself from the threat.
If you’re walking along and see a burning building, would your first thought be entering that building? Of course not, but unfortunately many people stupidly put their lives at risk by doing something just as dumb—they attend highly charged events that invite chaos.
While I always say there are no rules in a life-or-death situation, the law might not always have that same opinion. When using deadly force, you had better have a damn good reason to use it because, right or wrong, you are probably going to have to answer to the police.
If a high-risk activity is taking place in your city, keep an eye on your local headlines and news coverage to keep up-to-date on conditions. You can also get a bird’s-eye view of what’s really going on by following social media posts made by people at the event. Follow the event’s hashtags and set up a Google alert for keywords related to the event. There’s probably a good chance, thanks to our fifteen-minutes-of-fame society, that someone is live tweeting what’s going on from within the riot.
Despite taking all the preparations in the world, you still might find yourself in the middle of one of these chaotic situations. If that happens, remain calm and take the following steps.
Your number-one goal is escape. The minute any sort of chaos starts to break out you need to be ready to respond.
If you were not able to make a quick exit, try to look like you are part of the crowd. Then, as soon as you can safely do so, stealthily start to make your escape.
While this may sound like an odd piece of advice, especially when your goal is to escape the chaos, during a riot situation there’s a pretty good chance the police aren’t going to care which side you’re on.
Police will likely form a human barricade as an attempt to control the crowd. Officers in riot gear will likely use tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, beanbag rounds, and even high-power water cannons to control the crowd, and they will do so without discrimination. If you’re in the middle of the crowd you will be hit.
Due to the highly charged nature of these types of events, there is a very real possibility that you may have to defend yourself from multiple attackers. If you find yourself in a situation where escape or blending in has become impossible and an attack is imminent, your only option is to defend yourself with everything you have inside of you.
If you have a firearm or some sort of weapon, you immediately take away the mob’s advantage and give yourself the upper hand. Just remember that you need to act fast, and escape is still your main goal. Your gun only holds a certain amount of ammunition, and once it’s gone the crowd is going to come after you very quickly.
If you find yourself in a situation where you have to defend yourself without a weapon, your chances of survival immediately go down. That’s why I’m a huge advocate of always being armed. That being said, you should never give up, and you need to do everything within your power to fight to the very end.
Facing multiple attackers is much different than facing a single attacker. Here are few things to keep in mind if you face an attack by a group.
I think always being armed is a good thing, but pulling a gun out in the middle of a riot might not be the smartest idea. Unless you’re physically being attacked, it’s better to slip away unnoticed. Don’t try to scare the crowd away with your gun.
Fighting a large group doesn’t mean you have to take on the entire crowd. Instead of physically defeating each attacker, your goal should be to to defeat them mentally by attempting to destroy their will to fight.
Your first strike must be spectacular and very visible to the group. The more visible the injury you inflict, the greater psychological effect it will have on the rest of the group. The first few seconds of the fight are critical; if you can psychologically defeat the group now, many of them will scatter without ever throwing a punch.
In a life-or-death situation, there are no rules. Take out their eyes, break their kneecaps, jab them in the throat with a makeshift weapon; do anything you can to win the battle. Your goal is to immobilize the attackers by any means available.
Who is the strongest link? In a riot situation this might be a little hard to tell, and in some cases there will probably be multiple instigators. But if you can determine the ringleader, this is the person you want to take out.
Taking out the leader can destroy the group’s willingness to fight and is the first step to surviving an attack. Remember, you want to create a strong visible injury that will make the group rethink its attack.