Surviving A Riot

In the original print version of this book, I didn’t cover flash mobs and riots. They didn’t happen enough to be
of any significance. However, given the current political climate and shift in this country and Europe, they’re undoubtedly becoming more common.

In the last few years here in the United States alone, we’ve had serious riots in Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Louisiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Washington D.C., and the list goes on.

Flash mobs are also on the rise. Temple University in Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston, and most recently on a train in Seattle when dozens of juveniles attacked and robbed passengers on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART).

In keeping with the book's general theme of soft skills and avoidance , I’ve decided to talk about some strategies to keep you safe should you happen to find yourself confronted by a mob or in a riot. But, of course, you’re hardly going to try and fight your way out of the latter, so soft skills are about all you have going for you.

At first blush, that sounds odd. How do you just find yourself in a riot, and yet, that’s precisely what’s happened to a lot of people recently, both here in the U.S. and overseas. People who went to work downtown in the morning came out of their offices in the afternoon only to find out something had sparked a riot during the day. They now found themselves having to run the gauntlet of a hostile crowd to try and get home.

How about the motorists who’ve driven into “Black Lives Matter” protestors forming roadblocks across the highway? What about people who went to work in Baltimore in the morning only to come out of work later in the
evening to find themselves in the middle of a full-scale riot .

They had to deal with burning buildings, destruction of property, and vandalized vehicles, etc.? What about the folks in Germany who went to their annual New Year’s Eve celebration to find themselves under attack in the Cologne train station by a pack of approximately 1,000 Middle Eastern refugees?

Mob Mentality

Before we get into the means of avoiding getting caught up in a riot, it’s imperative you grasp just how dangerous
they can be. There is a genuine psychological phenomenon called “mob mentality.” This is where individuals lose
their individuality and become part of the greater whole. As a result, they will now do things they would never have even considered when placed in that situation.

Without going into all of the reasons why (and social scientists still don’t know all those reasons), here are a few to help you understand.

# Behavior that is normally unacceptable becomes acceptable when everyone else is doing it.

# Emotions run high, and being part of a massive crowd, especially one stirred up by marshals or agitators, can lead to increased hostility.

# Identity can be lost due to being part of a bigger group. Experiments have been conducted whereby individuals will conform to groupthink even though it’s clearly wrong.

# Anonymity is easy in a large mob , so people lose their sense of responsibility and accountability

# Self-awareness is lost when people get into the mob

# There is a palpable energy in a crowd. Then, as things become tense, adrenalin starts flowing, and the mob can smell and sense it. It’s here that you get the flashpoint that sets off the baying crowd.

All of the above are exacerbated as the mob grows larger.

Stay Put

First, the safest option is to stay put in your place of work until management hires security to get you out, comes up with an alternative exit strategy, or the rioters move on. Regarding rioters moving, sometimes they can be fairly static (outside an embassy, for example), while other times it’s a fluid event that moves from a gathering point to somewhere else. If it’s the type that moves, you probably won’t have to wait long before the bulk of the
crowd has gone, and then you can get out of the area.

Stay Away

If you decide to leave or walk around the corner to find yourself caught up in one, do not be a spectator. That also goes for watching one on TV and then deciding to go down and check it out. Either way, you can very quickly get

caught in the violence either at the hands of the rioters or the police, who will have little time to listen to, “I’m only here looking.”

You also might want to consider the fallout if you’re caught on the local news on the periphery of a mob, whether as a participant or spectator. Imagine the reaction if your boss or important clients happen to see the broadcast.

Will you have a job tomorrow? What about a criminal record or even the cost of defending yourself if you’re caught up in the sweep and arrested? It’s much easier and wiser just to stay away.

A friend from Kansas City called Megan was walking along the sidewalk downtown on her way to a restaurant for lunch. She ended in the middle of a mob of anti-Trump protestors. Someone in the group near her threw a bottle, and a cop mistakenly thought it was her. She was arrested and had to spend time and money proving her innocence in a court of law.

Something else to factor in is that the world has changed considerably. It’s not like it used to be when the good guys were on the side of members of the public who weren’t rioting. Anyone who remembers the LA Riots after the
Rodney King verdict will undoubtedly remember the Korean store owners. Pictures of them went viral, standing on the rooftops of their businesses, shooting the rioters who came to loot and burn down their stores. The rioters quickly learned to avoid that part of town, and the Korean businesses were unscathed.

I doubt that would be the case in today’s climate. Most of the rioting today in the U.S. particularly is politically
sanctioned. The Hollywood elite are donating vast chunks of money to bail out anyone caught rioting and furnish them with top-notch legal representation. The police are extremely leery about even turning up and, in some cases, have been told explicitly not to do so. So you get caught on the side of the angels, and you could conceivably be the one the city is trying to make an example out of. It’s a no-win situation, and the easiest solution is not to be anywhere near it.

Not only does the “stay away” advice apply to local riots where you live, but keep that in mind for places you might be going to visit.

We’ve already addressed the importance of researching the safety of wherever you might be visiting for vacation. Whether in the United States or overseas, make sure you do your homework and check on the political scene and potential for unrest before you go. If it looks in the least bit dicey, again, stay the hell away.

You’re In One, What Next?

Alright, despite your best intentions, you’ve been caught in a riot or a flash mob. So what should you do next? First, get to the fringes as fast as you can and get your back to a wall. Second, if you have a backpack or laptop case, hold that up in front, or wear it like a chest rig in the case of the backpack. That means to flip it around and wear it on your front instead of on your back. This will make it harder for someone to grab you by the pack from behind and drag you to the ground. It has the added bonus of making it harder to steal stuff from it in the confusion and acts as somewhat of a shield against missiles, be they human or foreign objects.

Is there an open storefront you can run into or an alley you can scoot down? If so, take the escape route and get the hell out of there. This will be obvious to some, but if the storefront is open because looters have broken the windows or kicked the doors in, do NOT enter in a bid to cut through to safety. Again, you run the risk of being arrested as a looter or being caught on camera running out of the store. Good luck trying to convince the judge, the jury , or your employer that you were only using it as a shortcut.

So, following our guidelines of going from bad to worse, you now have to try and get across the mob. You’ll want to cross it in much the same way you swim across a riptide, and that is, don’t swim against it. Trying to fight a rip will
wear you out, and before you know it, you’re drowning. Likewise, fighting against the surging of the crowd will exhaust you if it doesn’t kill you and is pretty much a losing proposition. I recommend going across them at a slightly forward angle, i.e., crossing but moving in the same direction as that won’t draw too much attention to yourself.

Another strategy you could use is one that a mate did in Marseille. He walked out of the cinema into a protest by the French communist party on the main drag or Canebière as the locals know it. He picked up one of the discarded protest signs as he worked his way across the seething mob and out the other side. By making the rioters
think you’re one of them, you’re far less likely to be attacked. Of course, the obvious issue is how close the mob is to the forces of law and order and the relationship between the two. But, again, you’ll have a hell of a time trying to convince the judge, jury , and your boss you weren’t a willing participant.

Don’t Fight If You Can Avoid It

If you do find yourself singled out by the crowd, don’t try and engage them in a fight , even if you’re Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee , and Chuck Norris rolled into one. Nor should you try and run, which will only activate their prey drive. Try instead to work your way around the side of the group and flank them or lose yourself in the crowd and confusion.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll fight if there’s absolutely no other choice, but it’s my last line of defense in a situation like this.

Get Away

Getting away to safety, at that point, will be your number one priority. However, it’s also important to note that safety might not be the big line of police officers you see further down the street in a phalanx armed with riot

shields and batons. Again, not the fault of law enforcement. Consider how you would feel if you were one of the cops, outnumbered a thousand to one, facing an angry mob threatening to rip you limb from limb, and here comes a random person from the crowd, barreling up full-speed at you? What happens next could run the gamut of being flung to the ground and handcuffed to being shot with a water cannon, bean bag rounds, rubber bullets, tear gas, or mace.

Even worse, in countries that don’t “play nice” as they do in America, you could easily be shot and killed or imprisoned for years.

Tear Gas

On the subject of tear gas , which will undoubtedly come into play at some point, a bandana is a great thing to have. While it won’t eliminate the problem completely, it will reduce the effects of smoke from burning vehicles and the burning associated with OC and tear gas. I recommend you hold it to your face and not wear it because wearing it wrapped around your face and knotted in the back makes you look an awful lot like one of the bad
guys from a law enforcement perspective.

Some say soaking it in soda, lemon juice, or vinegar will help mitigate the effects of the various gases. Understand others claim those tricks don’t work. If you’ve never been exposed to it (and this is why law enforcement and military members have exposure training), getting a faceful can cause panic even though it’s really nothing but a nuisance unless you’re an asthmatic.

Some other things to keep in mind are not to remove clothing as it causes a far worse burning sensation on exposed skin. Don’t wash your face with water, as it can exacerbate the effects. Keep in mind tear gas isn’t gas at all. It’s a powder. Try not to swallow, and definitely don’t rub your eyes. You will have to wash your clothing later, separately, probably several times, or throw it all away as it will stay contaminated for ages.

I stole one final point regarding tear gas and other irritants from my colleague and fellow trainer, Greg Ellifritz.

If you wear contact lenses, get rid of them immediately. Tear gas and OC can cause the lenses to melt, which doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. You should probably also carry spare contacts for that reason or a backup pair of glasses.

Clothing

If you paid attention to the bug-in bag chapter, you should have a solid pair of shoes on you. Wear those instead of any open-toed sandals or high heels. You need to be able to run, kick, inflict damage, and get through broken glass and debris on the ground. Anything less than a good pair of shoes won’t do that.

You will, of course, have a first-aid kit in your bug-in bag, which could come in very handy. Hospitals and paramedics will probably be overwhelmed in a situation like this, so anything you can do to take care of yourself will be a godsend.