Kettling
Its modern English usage may come from "Kessel" – literally a cauldron, or 'kettle' in German – that describes an encircled army about to be annihilated by a superior force.
[4] 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.
[citation needed] On January 8, 2023, in Brasilia, Brazil, an estimated 1500 people attacking the seat of the three branches of government, were kettled at the Army’s headquarters by the Federal and Estate police.
The next day in Place Bellecour, 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.
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.
[23] 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.
[24] The Battle of Orgreave, 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.
[citation needed] 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.
[26] 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.
[citation needed] Kettling was used once again during the 2009 G-20 London summit protests outside the Bank of England, as part of the police Territorial Support Group's "Operation Glencoe".
[2] 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.
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.
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 into the freezing Thames, likening it to the Hillsborough disaster.
[49] Summing up, Lord Hope said: There is room, even in the case of fundamental rights as to whose application no restriction or limitation is permitted by the Convention, for a pragmatic approach which takes full account of all the circumstances.
[3] On the issues related to the European Convention on Human Rights, the court ruled: Article 5 did not have to be construed in such a way as to make it impracticable for the police to fulfil their duties of maintaining order and protecting the public.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 and subsequently arrested by DC Police, resulting in large, sometimes record-breaking class-action settlements and ongoing litigation to restrict the practice.
[52] 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 (CPD) unlawfully detained over 1,000 people kettled on Chicago Avenue between Michigan and Mies van der Rohe Way, ultimately arresting over 900 people without probable cause.
[53] The New York Police Department used orange mesh snow fencing on several occasions to cordon and corral protesters at various locations during the Republican National Convention (RNC).
Riot police and bicycle units pepper sprayed and beat many people on 17 September,[58] 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,[59] who himself previously was sued twice for beating a disabled man[60] and for violating the civil rights of protesters.
[61] In May and June 2020, many cities in the United States experienced protests, rioting and looting following the murder of George Floyd by a policeman in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Police in some jurisdictions used kettling to trap and attack protesters using weapons such as tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and batons.
[citation needed] 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.
[65] The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the night of 2 June boxed in a crowd of marching protesters which was characterized as peaceful.
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.
Kettling and mass arrests also were conducted in Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland Oregon, and Des Moines.
[68] 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.
[69] 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.
