A more effective way to handle violent protests and riots
With all the planned protest movements, often by young students, with a high potential for violence in the offing lately, everyone is worried about the ability of the police to handle it, even with the aid of the National Guard. Much speculation has gone into such questions as "How much damage will they do?" and "How many will get killed?" These aren't idle questions, considering such violent terrorist organizations as Antifa and Islamic State, the latter having many of its members in this country and Canada.
But police and guns aren't the only answer to violent protests. There are even more effective ones, ones which don't involve killing of anyone by anyone. South Africa leads the charge on this sort of riot control, which consists flooding the streets with water to which is added copious amounts of dish detergent, liquid laundry detergent, soap flakes, and other materials which, together with all that water, makes for extremely slippery streets. Caught in such a flood, you can't walk or run in it, and you may well not even be able to stand up in it for long. If you try, you end up sprawled on the street, covered with soapy, slippery water. When you try to get up, especially if you are desperate to get away from the cops, your feet go out from under you again, and there you are, sudsy and soaking wet, lying on the asphalt and looking like an idiot. If you make repeated attempts to remedy the situation, you end up looking like a character in a MAD Magazine lampoon of somebody trying madly to run and getting nowhere. After a while, as the day wears on, evening approaches, a wind rises, and you begin to shiver with cold, soaking wet as you and your clothing are. And all the while the police and fire department personnel just stand just outside the borders of that water and smile at you. As night comes on, they extend poles and other aids you can grab by which they'll pull you out -- and assist you right into the paddy wagon, and off to jail you go, where, at least, it's warm.
As for all the Molotov cocktails and firearms you took with you to use at your planned riot, they all got soaking wet and wouldn't work, usually because, when you went to use them, your feet went out from under you, and you ended up sprawling in all that soapy water.
Nobody got killed or even badly hurt, with the exception of a lot of bruised egos. Quick end to the planned riot, and to any idea that such "protests" can be particularly effective at anything but getting you laughed at.
Question: Why aren't we using this method for [pun alert!] extinguishing riots and violent protests? It would be one hell of a lot better than having members of the police and National guard as well as those of these violent groups get badly hurt or killed due to the use of such weapons as Molotov cocktails, guns, etc., and would entail minimal property damage (except, perhaps, that due to damage from all that water, detergents, and soap.
But police and guns aren't the only answer to violent protests. There are even more effective ones, ones which don't involve killing of anyone by anyone. South Africa leads the charge on this sort of riot control, which consists flooding the streets with water to which is added copious amounts of dish detergent, liquid laundry detergent, soap flakes, and other materials which, together with all that water, makes for extremely slippery streets. Caught in such a flood, you can't walk or run in it, and you may well not even be able to stand up in it for long. If you try, you end up sprawled on the street, covered with soapy, slippery water. When you try to get up, especially if you are desperate to get away from the cops, your feet go out from under you again, and there you are, sudsy and soaking wet, lying on the asphalt and looking like an idiot. If you make repeated attempts to remedy the situation, you end up looking like a character in a MAD Magazine lampoon of somebody trying madly to run and getting nowhere. After a while, as the day wears on, evening approaches, a wind rises, and you begin to shiver with cold, soaking wet as you and your clothing are. And all the while the police and fire department personnel just stand just outside the borders of that water and smile at you. As night comes on, they extend poles and other aids you can grab by which they'll pull you out -- and assist you right into the paddy wagon, and off to jail you go, where, at least, it's warm.
As for all the Molotov cocktails and firearms you took with you to use at your planned riot, they all got soaking wet and wouldn't work, usually because, when you went to use them, your feet went out from under you, and you ended up sprawling in all that soapy water.
Nobody got killed or even badly hurt, with the exception of a lot of bruised egos. Quick end to the planned riot, and to any idea that such "protests" can be particularly effective at anything but getting you laughed at.
Question: Why aren't we using this method for [pun alert!] extinguishing riots and violent protests? It would be one hell of a lot better than having members of the police and National guard as well as those of these violent groups get badly hurt or killed due to the use of such weapons as Molotov cocktails, guns, etc., and would entail minimal property damage (except, perhaps, that due to damage from all that water, detergents, and soap.