Managing Collective Violence Around Public Events International
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bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 1 Managing collective violence around public events: an international comparison bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 2 bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 3 Managing collective violence around public events: an international comparison O.M.J. Adang With cooperation from: S.E. Bierman, E.B. Brown, J. Dietermann, C. Putz, M. Schreiber, R. van der Wal, J. Zeitner bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 4 Under the authority of: Police Science & Research Programme Cover design: Martien Frijns Photography: Jet Budelman/ Hollandse Hoogte Editing and layout: Vantilt-producties & Martien Frijns ISBN: 978 90 3524 536 5 NUR: 600, 824 Realization: Reed Business, Amsterdam 2011 Police Science & Research Programme, Apeldoorn Notwithstanding the exceptions provided for by law, no part of this publication may be reproduced and/ or published without prior written permission from the publisher, who has been irrevocably authorised by the author(s) to give such permission to the exclusion of all other parties. The greatest care has been taken in the preparation of this publication. The author, editors and publisher accept no liability for any information that may nevertheless be incomplete or incorrect. Any suggestions for improvement are welcomed. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, by print, photo print or other means without written permission from the authors. bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 5 Foreword On the evening of August 22, 2009 a dance event (Veronica Sunset Grooves) took place on the beach of Hoek van Holland in the Netherlands. The free event, which was organised for the second time, was attended by an estima - ted 30,000 to 50,000 visitors. In the course of the evening, incidents devel- oped which eventually resulted in an estimated 150 to 300 individuals attack- ing and threatening a group of approximately 20 police officers. The group continued to threaten and attack the officers, throwing different kinds of ob- jects that were at hand at them (including bottles filled with sand). The offi- cers withdrew 150 m from the fenced-off area into the dunes. During the confrontation, which lasted 12 minutes in total, police officers fired numer- ous shots. The investigation after the incident made clear that 21 officers fired a total of 76 shots. Most of these shots (63) were warning shots, in 13 cases aimed shots were fired into the attacking group, mainly at the legs of attack- ers. Seven people got hit by police bullets, one of them fatally. This was the first time in the Netherlands since World War II someone was killed by a po- lice bullet in the course of a public order incident and the violent attack on the officers led to a media outrage. On the basis of an investigation by state investigators, the public prosecutor concluded that all shots were fired in self defence by officers who were confronted with excessive violence and who felt their lives were in danger. The official evaluation of the incidents, com- missioned by the mayor of Rotterdam (Hoek van Holland is part of the mu- nicipality of Rotterdam) concluded that events in Hoek van Holland were unique because of the extreme nature of the way in which police officers were tested, provoked and attacked, and because of the alleged organised and planned nature of the violence: a relatively large number of the attackers in- cluded known Feyenoord Rotterdam football hooligans. At the same time, the investigators concluded that the way in which the event was prepared for and handled was deficient in many ways. The investigators came up with a total of 31 recommendations for the organisation of future events. These regarded the municipal policy for events and the conditions under which an event is to be 5 bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 6 Politiewetenschap 55 | Managing collective violence around public events: an international comparison allowed to take place (6 recommendations), preparations for events (8 rec- ommendations), the organisation proper of events (5 recommendations), information related to events (2 recommendations), implementation (8 recommendations), and after-event measures (2 recommendations). Before the results of the evaluation were known, the question came up whether the incident was exceptional or whether it was the expression of a new trend or phenomenon regarding (the threat of) collective violence against police officers (and others) during large scale events. To answer this question, the municipality of Rotterdam and the Dutch Interior Ministry commissioned a study into public disorder and collective violence in relation to large-scale events. Parallel to this study, the Dutch programme Police & Sci- ence commissioned the Police Academy of the Netherlands to conduct an in- ternational comparative study. To this purpose, a separate research proposal was formulated. The supervisor of the international study consulted with the researchers of the Dutch study and commented on drafts of the Dutch report. A summary (in Dutch) of the results of the international study was included in the Dutch report. This report is the result of this exploratory comparative study into collective violence during events, carried out in Germany, Great Britain and Sweden. It would have not been possible without the participation of the following individuals and institutions: Saskia Bierman, from the public order management research group of the Police Academy of the Netherlands (Great Britain, phase 2 only) Elaine Brown, PhD student at the University of Liverpool and linked to the public order management research group of the Police Academy of the Netherlands (Great Britain, phase 1 only) Jo¨rg Dietermann, Fachhochschule fu¨r o¨ffentliche Verwaltung NRW/ Institut fu¨r Polizeiwissenschaft Carsten Putz, Fachhochschule fu¨r o¨ffentliche Verwaltung NRW/ Institut fu¨r Polizeiwissenschaft Martina Schreiber, Fachhochschule fu¨r o¨ffentliche Verwaltung NRW/ Institut fu¨r Polizeiwissenschaft, attached to the public order management research group of the Police Academy of the Netherlands Ronald van der Wal, public order management research group of the Police Academy of the Netherlands (Great Britain, phase 2 only) 6 bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 7 Foreword Ju¨rgen Zeitner, Fachhochschule fu¨r o¨ffentliche Verwaltung NRW/ Institut fu¨r Polizeiwissenschaft Police Research Centre of the University of Uppsala (Sweden). I would also like to thank all police experts in Germany, Sweden and the UK who were willing to be interviewed for this study. Otto Adang 7 bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 8 bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 9 Contents 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Material 15 Martina Schreiber 2 Germany: May Day in Berlin 21 2.1 Background 21 2.2 The phenomenon 26 2.3 Intervention 32 Martina Schreiber, Carsten Putz, Ju¨rgen Zeitner & Jo¨rg Dietermann 3 Germany: policing escalating crowd situations in 45 North Rhine-Westphalia 3.1 The phenomenon 45 3.2 Intervention 55 Otto Adang 4 Sweden: Gothenburg, June 2001: the dialogue that failed 71 4.1 Background 71 4.2 The phenomenon 74 4.3 Intervention 80 Saskia Bierman 5 United Kingdom: G-20 summit, London, April 2009 99 5.1 G-20 background 99 5.2 The phenomenon 102 5.3 Intervention 109 9 bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 10 Politiewetenschap 55 | Managing collective violence around public events: an international comparison Ronald van der Wal 6 United Kingdom: policing EDL manifestations and 119 demonstrations across England 6.1 Background: a short history of right-wing protest 119 6.2 The phenomenon 126 6.3 Intervention 135 7 Discussion and conclusions 153 7.1 Discussion: collective violence around public events 153 7.2 Discussion: the management of public events 156 7.3 Conclusions: the initiation and escalation of collective 159 violence 7.4 Conclusions: what lessons for the management of public 165 events may be drawn from the international comparison for the situation in the Netherlands? 8 Summary in Dutch/ Samenvatting in het Nederlands 175 8.1 Collectief geweld en ordehandhaving bij evenementen: 175 een internationale vergelijking 8.2 Gebeurtenissen in de onderzochte landen 177 8.3 Geweldplegers 179 8.4 Managen van publieke evenementen: goede werkwijzen 182 en trends 8.5 De initiatie en escalatie van collectief geweld: een model 185 8.6 Welke lessen kunnen voor Nederland uit het internationale 188 onderzoek worden getrokken? Appendix: Questionnaire 193 Authors 197 10 bw.pw55mm_deel 30.5 08-04-11 15:43 Pagina 11 1 Introduction As indicated in the foreword, events in Hoek van Holland and the question of whether this violent outburst could be regarded as the expression of a new trend or phenomenon regarding (the threat of) collective violence against police officers (and others) at large scale events formed the starting point for this study. It was not immediately obvious what types of events could and should be included in the international study. Should the study restrict itself to Hoek-van-Holland type events (i.e. dance events and other types of festi- vals or festive events) or should other types of events such as sport events or protest events be included as well? It was decided that it would be a pitfall to focus exclusively on Hoek-van-Holland type events, because there was no reason to assume that there is an exclusive or self-evident link between this type of events and collective violence. There was no theoretical reason to assume this, and a cursory media-analysis also indicated that, in practice, different countries had different “watershed” experiences linked to different types of events/ incidents that had a big impact and led to a rethinking of the way in which public order around events was maintained and managed.1 It was therefore decided to focus this study on expressions of collective violence during large scale incidents of public disorder, regardless of the type of event or where they occurred.