Mobile Vulgus Christian Nold

Christian Nold
Book Works

Mobile Vulgus

Mobile Vulgus. The word 'mob' is

derived from the Latin meaning for
the 'fickle crowd'. This book is an
attempt to reclaim the mobility of the
crowd as a physical force for change.

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Published and distributed by

Book Works, 19 Holywell Row,
London EC2A 4JB
www.bookworks.org.uk
Copyright text, photographs and audio
Christian Nold, 2001.
Image copyright Keith Still, FosterMiller, Do or Die, Robert Knight,
Charles Pycraft, Kirkland Airforce base,
US Department of Defence, Southwest
Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
swri.org, 2001.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be
reproduced, copied or transmitted save
with written permission from the
publisher in agreement with the
copyright holders or in accordance
with the provisions of the Copyright
Designs and Patents Act, 1988. The
publishers have made every effort to
contact all copyright holders. If proper
acknowledgement has not been made,
we ask copyright holders to contact us,
so that full acknowledgement may be
given in subsequent editions.

Page 2

Christian Nold would like to thank:

Bruna Gagliardi, Inge Nold, Mike
Holmes, Jason Rainbird, Duncan
Whitley, Joe Tunmer, Keith Still, Ian
Hunt, Kameran Etebar, Dr. John
Alexander, Javier, John Drury, Do or
Die, all at the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol,
Charles Pycraft and all the people on
the Mayday and Mayday White
Overalls mailing lists who have
contributed their ideas and images.
Special thanks to Craig Martin, Jane
Rolo and Maria Fusco who have not
only edited and published this book
but also organised the test events in
Bristol and London.

Christian Nold

ISBN 1 870699 56 4
Mobile Vulgus is one of four
publications commissioned and edited
by Craig Martin for Warm Seas as part
of Open House/Book Works Projects
1998-2001.
Open House/Book Works Projects is
supported by the National Lottery
through the Arts Council of England
and the Henry Moore Foundation.
Book Works is funded by the Arts
Council of England and London Arts.
Designed by Jason Rainbird
with Christian Nold.
Printed by Offset Colour Print Limited,
Southampton.

Book Works

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Page 4

Trafalgar Square, London

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We are entering Trafalgar Square and the

sun is shining. People are lazily spread
out across the whole of the square. Just a
few people have crowded around the base
of Nelsons Column. Those sitting on the
metal lions are holding bright yellow and
red banners into the wind. The only
police visible are wearing their standard
fluorescent jackets.
We relax and start chatting with the people sitting near the fountains until we
realise that all the normal police have been replaced by riot troopers. Shiny black
Darth Vader uniforms are reflecting in the bright light of the sun. Locked into
their hands are long glossy riot batons and transparent shields. Their faces are
obscured by balaclavas. Line by line they shuffle forward blocking off the exits
from the square. They wont let us out. We keep being directed from one side of
the square to the other. All tricks, no one is being let out. I walk over to one of
the important looking officers with a red stripe on his shoulder, but my path is
blocked by two of his subordinates. He yells at me that we had our chance to
leave. Oh shit! Three to four thousand people are trapped together in one square
with no explanation given. The police just repeat the maxim that they are
merely following orders. On the elevated side of the square the black line has

finally sealed off the inner plaza. People are pushed ever tighter. When can we
leave? Not now, they say. People are scared. Glass bottles are being thrown at
the police line and each one is cheered. I am scared, I keep filming the anxious
faces of protesters and contrasting them with blank police eyes. Everybody is
squashed tight, ribcage to ribcage. One of the policemen cracks and lashes out.
SCUM, SCUM, SCUM. The tension is explosive, people are shouting and whistling,
drums are continually beating. Suddenly after being trapped for three hours a
police van arrives and a loud hailer bellows something which no one
understands. The press helicopter which had been circling overhead all day flies
off. Something is happening. As if by magic all the police simultaneously
disengage and pull back. Why arent we surging forward to make up the ground?
Suddenly an ear-piercing scream louder than the rest of the noise, penetrates
my ear. The punk that had been standing near the top of the monument screams
while clutching his chest. He convulses, vomits and collapses. Everybody is
screaming as more people drop and retch. Utter panic. I am pushed to the
ground. Just as I fall, I see something glinting in the sun. There is some kind of
weapon mounted on a tripod on top of South Africa House. The back of my head
hits the concrete. Facing up at the blue sky a huge shadow moves over. Amongst
the deafening screams a giant model aeroplane flies silently overhead. The plane
turns and swoops releasing six canisters in quick succession. The payload
descends on little parachutes. I cant feel the impact. My chest heaves. I cant
breath. My eyes are forced shut.

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% UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

These weapons are the future of crowd
control, allowing the remote
deployment of a whole range of nonlethal anti-personnel weapons, from
noxious odorants, caltrops, dye
markers and tear gas to electronic
noise generators.

Feeling a huge solidarity with the people I met and witnessing the unreported
police violence against them, my position became polarised. Frustrated at being
trapped behind immobile cordons I sought to delve deeper into the police
mindset. I started to examine their weapons, tactics and training in order to find
ways to invert them and turn the crowd itself into an oppositional tool. By
reclaiming the mobility of the crowd as a physical force for change I hoped to go
beyond their shield walls.

11
MOBILE VULGUS

The account on the previous pages

emerged as an interpolation between my
own experiences of protests in Trafalgar
Square and the operational scenarios of a
whole arsenal of new crowd control
weapons. I had seen the current state of
policing and glimpsed its future.

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The Crowd

The psychology of crowds first became a subject for serious study in the 19th
century when civilisation in France was seen to be under threat by the rising
masses. The revolution of 1848 and the Paris Commune in 1871 had driven the
bourgeoisie and the ruling class to try to comprehend the dynamic of the mass
and find a way of suppressing it. Central to the debate between criminologists
was whether the individual was inherently irrational or if the participation with
the crowd caused individuals to behave irrationally. One man stood out as
synthesizing this argument into what became one of the most well-read books
in social psychology, Gustave Le Bons The Crowd. He argued that within the
crowd individuals lose all sense of personal identity and therefore lose control
of their behaviour, which accounts for their irrationality and mindless
destructiveness. Of course, his analysis of the working class was from a position
exterior to it, given his bourgeois status. Since their struggle was alien to him, he
perceived their actions to be mindless and consequently saw it as his task to
develop a practical psychology which could be used to combat the crowd.
Mental contagion may affect a whole people instantaneously, but more often it
operates slowly, creeping from group to group. Gustave Le Bon, 1895

13
T H E C ROW D

I have endeavoured to examine the difficult problem presented by crowds in a purely

scientific manner - that is, by making an effort to proceed with method, and without
being influenced by opinions, theories, and doctrines. Gustave Le Bon, 1895

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Le Bon suggested that the crowd feeds on itself through the presence of an
outside agent, a contagion an infectious disease that is passed from person
to person obliterating their individuality and rationality. It is illuminating to
contrast this idea with the contemporary vision of the meme as postulated by
Richard Dawkins, who argues that concepts propagate themselves [] by
leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called
imitation. While both the meme and the contagion share the same need to
reproduce themselves, Dawkins cultural virus appears to be an antiseptic
photocopier compared with Le Bons virulent bacterium that implants itself in
the subjects brain. Seeing Le Bon in the cultural milieu of the late 19th century
we can comprehend his notion of the contagion as both a biological and mental
entity. When Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species in 1859 he directly
influenced the psychologist William James, who published the first account of
the correlation between human biological evolution and cultural progression. Le
Bons contagion unifies biology and culture to create a subtle beast that can
cross backwards and forwards across the physical divide, sometimes becoming a
real biological agent and at other times remaining a linguistic metaphor. By
attributing the creation and spread of the crowd to something like a modern
Ergot fungus he initiated the notion that the hallucinations of the masses could
be combated by concrete means.
When the first cries rippled across the surging crowd I felt fear run through me like
electricity. They charged, and caught in the heaving mass, I was forced with them
desperately trying not to fall under their stampeding feet. Barbara Davies,The
Mirror Newspaper, May 2nd 2000
Today the names have changed and the beast with many heads is referred to as
the public. And despite the fact that we have recently been granted the legal

right to protest, the apocalyptic image of the mob still remains. Modern versions
of Le Bons account continue to re-emerge, being repeated by politicians and the
popular press whenever actions against the crowd need sanctioning. Police and
military training texts in particular borrow heavily from Le Bon when they
envisage the crowd as a bushfire or flood which, unless contained, will spread
and consume everything in its path. They follow his assertion that crowds are
only to be impressed by images and that it is only images that terrify or attract
them and become motives for action. Taking this idea to the point of absurdity
the modern police aim for a shocking directness designed to cause visual fear
and thus isolate and break the contagion gripping the crowd.
The moment he allowed the crowd to mingle with the troops the latter, paralysed by
suggestion and contagion, would cease to do their duty. Gustave Le Bon, 1895
You have to take control of the situation before it takes control of you. Untrained
troops tend to allow a crowd to mingle and assemble for too long before they act. By
then, it may be too late. Bob Walsh, Technical Solutions Group (non-lethal
arms manufacturer), 2000

15
T H E C ROW D

T H E C ROW D

14

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Mayday 2001, London

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19

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In the weeks leading up to the event the

politicians and police had been
conspiring to intimidate people with
their zero tolerance policy and threats
of tear gas and plastic bullets.

M E N TA L B AT T L E F I E L D S

Surprisingly the actual day started quietly with a number of autonomous

protests occurring throughout London. The text messages I was receiving from
people at the other actions all sounded positive. We decided to go to Hyde Park
to join up with a group of people busily building cardboard hotels for the
homeless as a gesture against the expensive hotels overlooking us on all sides.
At 3:00 we broke off and walked towards Oxford Street where the turn out was
much better. In anticipation of trouble the main road had been thoroughly
cleaned for once and all loose street furniture removed to stop it being thrown
or used to build barricades. All the large corporate chains had boarded up their
main facades with chipboard not even forgetting the tiny branded signs that
stuck out into the street.

21

, VEgAS. Virtual Reality Egress

System, 1992

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Mental Battlefields

Simulating crowd formations is of great interest to civilian disaster management, protest policing and the military who all share the same need to predict,
control and rationalise the momentum of the crowd. The challenge of modelling
something as complex as the interactions between a group of people results in
some very revealing simplifications. Until recently large concentrations of people were visualised as a uniform fluid that flowed smoothly and without any
guidance into buildings, around any obstructions and out of the exits. It is only
the recent occurrences of crowd disasters such as Hillsborough in 1989 that
have lead to a rethink. Eyewitness accounts of these disasters tell of people
behaving in irrational herding behaviour, which hinders them as well as others
in their escape. These kind of observations reaffirm our general fear of crowds
and have led to such a major reversal that today, modern crowd simulations only
simulate the extreme mental states of the crowd.

23
M E N TA L B AT T L E F I E L D S

Postmortem analyses of crowding disasters have shown that the pressure of throbbing mobs can bend steel girders and push over brick walls. American Association
for the Advancement of Science

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Legion
The computer model Legion with the slogan I am not one, I am many
aims to realistically simulate panic situations. Instead of coalescing like water
droplets the crowd behaves as a mass of angular grains of sand, crushing and
colliding with each other in their frantic surge towards the exit. Each grain is
accorded its own individuality on the basis of four mechanical parameters that
govern its direction and speed of movement: objective, motility, constraint
and assimilation.
These four rules produced crowd behaviour that was too regular compared to
reality. This problem was solved by the addition of noise which produced realistic
crowd dynamics. Legion promotional literature
As with Le Bon, irrationality is the simplistic answer, projected by the
disengaged observer onto a subject that is too subtle and complex to
understand. The combination of four rigid rules with a degree of noise results
in a mild randomness which constrains the irrationality of the crowd within
strict limits. The crowd has become predictable and ready for control in real
life situations. Legion has so far been used to simulate and redesign stadiums
for the Sydney Olympics as well as Wembley Stadium and Balham Station in
London. Its solution to the problem of crowds is the insertion of a variety of
concrete barriers that increase the flow efficiency by hemming in the crowd
and reducing the choice of movement for the individual.

25
M E N TA L B AT T L E F I E L D S

M E N TA L B AT T L E F I E L D S

24

Screenshots of the 1995 version of

Legion. A shimmering stream of
steady panic pushes towards a tiny
black doorway. The movement happens
in staggered pressure-releasing waves.
In cramped spaces, units are stuck
indefinitely, unable to enter the surge.
Others skip lightly around slower ones,
moving up to three times faster.
Individuals become hard to track as
identical pixel afterimages are
immediately filled by the following
unit. One in, one out.

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27
M E N TA L B AT T L E F I E L D S
Screenshots of the 1996 version of
Legion. The models slide on the
smooth grey concrete towards the
doorway. Stiff shoulders twist and rub
mechanically on chests. Pink hands and
arms lightly swing back and forth, and
briefly shudder on impact with another
model. Endless streams of units press
towards the entrance in silent grim
desperation and bunch up at the
doorway only to disappear into
nothingness on the other side.

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Commanders Interactive Training System

M E N TA L B AT T L E F I E L D S

28

In 1998 the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department developed its own sophisticated
simulation. Their program, the Commanders Interactive Training System
proudly states that it has developed directly out of riot officers first-hand
experiences of the Rodney King LA riots. It simulates inner city disturbances as
seen through the eyes of an officer on the street in order to prepare platoon
commanders on how to deal with the crowd. Watching the simulation pan
across the streets towards the robotic crowd, pausing only to select a different
weapon, is reminiscent of a large number of computer games. The only shock
comes when we zoom towards the crowd and half of them are on their hands
and knees apparently knocked down by non-lethal weapons. Developed in
cooperation with Lt. Charles Heal, one of the pioneers of non-lethal weapons,
this no doubt explains why the program makes available such an extraordinary
arsenal of soft-kill weapons:
MK 4 & 9 OC (pepper) spray
12 gauge beanbag
12 gauge rubber fin stabilised round
12 gauge sting ball
40mm foam rubber and wood batons
40mm stinger
Hand thrown sting ball
Hand thrown flash bang

Screenshot from the Commanders

Interactive Training System. The
simulated crowd has assembled in a
public square. Those on their hands
and knees appear to have been
knocked down using non-lethal
weapons, although the program apparently does not simulate vomit.

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C AC T U S

31
M E N TA L B AT T L E F I E L D S

M E N TA L B AT T L E F I E L D S

30

The British program CACTUS (Command And Control Training and Planning
Using Knowledge Based Simulation) was used to train riot police officers at the
Public Order Training Centre in Hounslow in the early to mid 1990s. CACTUS
uses a birds eye view of digitised ordinance survey maps to simulate disorder in
real city centres. CACTUS approach to the crowd is to ignore the individual and
conceptualise people as being conglomerated into large unified groups. On
screen differently coloured dots represent protesters and police units while the
outer coloured arcs signify the possible transitions between the full range of
simulated behaviours:
Dispersing, demonstrating, sitting down, standing still, standing around angrily,
demonstrating, marching, marching angrily, marching with arms, taunting crowd,
dismantling building site, vandalising and looting, volatile, very volatile, attacking
police, throwing heavy missiles
While graphically less sophisticated than the American system, CACTUS is
operationally far superior since it doesnt just simulate but also visualises real
life crowd disorder as it happens. Simulation and real life have been merged into
one unified control interface of buttons and text boxes. CACTUS allows the
incident commander to operate remotely, hundreds of kilometres away from the
actual street disorder. All the information from the CCTV cameras in the streets
and on helicopters is fed in through fibre optic lines, collated and then filtered.
Once compiled with tactical reports from the street, the system allows the
operator to issue live commands which drip back down the command chain to
the individual police officer in the street. These officers have a special
communication system built straight into their riot helmets which only allows
them to receive commands.

A simple control scheme for the agents

suffices as only the surface behaviour is
of interest, we are not concerned with
explicitly representing the motivations
or goals of the agents. CACTUS
promotional literature

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Mayday 2001, London

M E N TA L B AT T L E F I E L D S

32

CACTUS. This flowchart forms the

central part of the behavioural
network used to simulate the actions
of each riot police officer.

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37
REALITY TRAINING

We were following the samba band,

whistling and dancing in the streets
when suddenly on reaching the end of
one road we were confronted by several
lines of riot police. By the time the main
bulk of the protesters had caught up
with us, the police had managed to
reinforce their cordon with mounted
officers. Distracted by the carnival
atmosphere, nobody noticed the way
another two lines stealthily sealed off
the road behind us. They cleverly laid a
trap for us and we walked straight into
it. Now, we are trapped here with about
a thousand people in one narrow street.

, Public Order Training Centre

The incendiary bombs used as part of
the training are one-pint milk bottles
filled with petrol. Real Molotov
cocktails usually contain at least one
litre of petrol.

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Reality Training

They are coming! People are running towards the police lines. BACK, Short
Shields BACK, the red-faced sergeant screams at the riot police phalanx behind
him. The police with the small circular shields run back while the officers with
the huge body shields come forward and squash together in a roman tortoise
formation. A rain of projectiles is hailing down. The straggle of protesters keep
running at the riot police, throwing bricks and vanishing back around the corner
of the street. A mass of bricks is impacting on the shields and being deflected
onto the road. There is a short lull as the protesters re-group around a wheelbarrow that has been brought up from the rear. Suddenly scores of fiery comets
arc through the air and drop down onto the legion of police. The sound of shattered glass mixes with the muffled, sucking-air sound of flaming Molotov cocktails exploding. Drum-like impacts reverberate throughout the street. The police
cower behind their tall shields looking through the curtain of fire. Make more
noise the officer in charge shouts towards the protesters. Odd. Despite the fact
that the police are carrying out elaborate attack patterns they never seem to
engage in hand-to-hand combat. Actually, when seen close up the protesters are
not that convincing: they are all uniformly muscular men dressed in different
rugby shirts.

39
REALITY TRAINING

I am not a psychologist, I am not a sociologist, I am a police officer.

Dominic, British riot police instructor

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This is not Oxford Street but the Public Order Training Centre in Hounslow
where every British police officer receives military-style training for at least two
days every six months. Today roughly one hundred police officers are taking part
in what they call reality training. The group is split into two, with the larger unit
of seventy, chasing the thirty protesters around the purpose-built compound.
The training area is laid out like a peculiarly English film set with roads called
Victoria and Albert Road lined with brick facades posing as strangely familiar
shops: Floyds Bank, Stavicker Sports, Heath Pub and Burger Queen. Only one or
two of the buildings in the whole compound are constructed in three dimensions to allow the riot police to practice house clearance. Behind the High Street
is an area of special obstacles all grouped together. A mass of truck tyres piled
up at the entrance of a narrow alley simulates a protester barricade just so that
it can be broken down again using a special bullet proof JCB with an extra-long
pronged scoop. On the other side of the road a single underground carriage
stands next to a solitary football stand, awaiting crowd dispersion practice.
Adjoining the main compound are a number of halls containing freestanding
prison cells used for restraint scenarios as well as a shooting range for lethal and
non-lethal weapons. The floor is littered with 40mm shell casings leading to a
disconcerting row of severed headless targets lined up at the far end of the hall.
The final piece of training technology also turns out to be the most evocative.
Standing in front of me is a tall and narrow metal frame from which a mass of
blue boxing bags are hung. These sacks hang from above head height all the way
down to my calves and are arranged in offset rows of 5 wide and 10 deep blocking my vision. Each bag is filled with sand to weigh the same as an average
human. I am told to run through. Pushing in, I am pounded by hard dull impacts
all over my body as the bags swing towards my face. This is what it must feel like
when the command to charge comes through on the earpiece: the tinted visor
flips down and you are forced to barge into the heavy faceless mob.

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% Public Order Training Centre

The whole of the compound is covered
in CCTV cameras allowing replays of
the days action from a wide variety of
angles.

REALITY TRAINING

42

, Public Order Training Centre

Most of the shield training occurs in
the evening and goes on into the night
in order to prepare the police for
fighting in darkness.

! A brick thrown by protestors at

the Public Order Training Centre.

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Special Bodies of Armed Men

We dont have revolutions in England but we have riots. Like a doctor, prevention is
better than control. Dominic, British riot police instructor

We never had CS [gas] five years ago. We never had an expandable baton like they
had in the States five to six years ago. So all these things are coming over here, and I
would imagine that whatever technological advances they have in the States and
that are suitable to be used in this country, will come across here as well. Dominic,
British riot police instructor

45
REALITY TRAINING

REALITY TRAINING

44

The British police force emerged largely out of a need to deal with riots. The
Gordon Riots of 1780 prompted parliament to first attempt to create the
Metropolitan Police in 1785. Prior to the establishment of the police force, local
militia units and the national army were used to carry out its functions. When civil
disturbances occurred, the decision to use the army was a binary choice between
ignoring the incident or lethal intervention. The establishment of the police force
allowed for a graduated and constant discipline that appeared to depoliticise and
distance state control. In order for the public to believe in the separation between
the military and the police the two services had to be given totally different
equipment and training regimes. Thus the demilitarised figure of the English bobby
as a citizen in uniform emerged. This separation of police and army remained
intact until the 1970s and 80s when the criminologist Robert Reiner discerns a
fundamental u-turn in British policy towards a militarisation of the police in both
armament and training which he ironically blames on the availability of new riot
control hardware. While Britain is today the worlds second largest manufacturer
and exporter of crowd control products, most of the futuristic weapons technology is being imported from the USA.

Following this trend the Metropolitan Police recently announced that they will be
equipped with the American M26 Taser weapon by the end of 2001. This weapon
is designed to fire two sharp prongs that fly through the air, piercing the subjects
clothing and delivering a 50,000 volt electrical current. Overriding the bodys central nervous system it causes uncontrollable muscle spasms, thus disabling the
subject. The first police units to receive these weapons will be armed response
units and the Territorial Support Group who deal with riots and other public disorder. Another potentially more dangerous weapon being considered is the Vehicle
Mounted Active Denial System, a highly specialised microwave weapon, designed
to disperse crowds by heating the human skin to painful levels. The British Labour
government is currently considering the purchase of these weapons from the US
arms manufacturer Raytheon Systems who were coincidentally one of the Labour
Partys major financial contributors at the time of the general election in 1997
(Red Star Research).

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47

n Cooperative Osprey 1996

Heavy American armour drives along
the central avenue of the purpose
built city.

% A simulated civil disturbance occurs

in the street and troops from Company
Six are called on to push back the
shouting and blank placard-carrying
protesters.

REALITY TRAINING

Realising the renewed importance of

urban warfare NATO has been
organising wargames to train its
soldiers to deal with civilians in Civil
Disturbance Operations in Urban
Terrain. The first such US/UK Wargame
was held in April 2000 and specifically
focused on the deployment of nonlethal weapons in cities.

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Dirty Battlefields
Back in the bad old days when it was us and the SovietsDr. John Alexander

Delays deep in enemy territory would result in a cascading effect, thus producing
major influence on the battlefield. Somewhat ironically, rather than being nonlethal, the ultimate desired effect of these weapons was to increase the kill ratio in
the forward battle area. Dr. John Alexander
Yet just as Alexander was starting to develop these revolutionary weapons the
Eastern Bloc began to self-implode. Hungary opened its national borders in 1989
and the Berlin Wall fell the same year, making the collapse of the Soviet Bloc

With the collapse of the Soviet Bloc the American perspective shifted towards
new enemies. Military strategists now predicted that all future conflicts would
be fought as limited wars contested on a sub-national level within foreign
countries. The real turning point came with the American military intervention
in Somalia in 1992-1993. One of the many problems facing the military was the
fact that local warlords appeared to be constantly aware of American troop
movements. The Americans who were monitoring all the radio frequencies were
confused as to how the messages could be reaching the interior so quickly.
Eventually it was discovered that the information was being spread by drum
beat, a method that was undetectable to the military.
We realised that were overqualified, we can crush anything our size, but we cant
crush grassroots movements. Chris and Janet Morris, pioneers of non-lethal
weapons
The strategists realised that future wars were going to be more complex than
anything the military had ever faced before. Conflicts would now take place within urban areas and inevitably bring the military into direct conflict with civilians.
The militarys role had shifted from one of killing towards one of global policing.
Suddenly the difficult choices on how to deal with civilians became central to
their concerns and were encapsulated in the phrase Dirty Battlefields, used to
describe those incidents where civilians and combatants were mixed.

49
REALITY TRAINING

REALITY TRAINING

48

Somewhere amongst the Cold War paranoia and its multiple ironies a new
weapons meme sprang to life. Out of the secretive military research & development world emerged the figure of Dr. John Alexander. A maverick of both the
military and scientific establishment Alexander joined the Los Alamos Disabling
Technologies Program in 1988 with new ideas on how to defeat the Soviets
asymmetrically. NATO strategists predicted an imminent Soviet first strike in
Europe backed by an overwhelming amount of Eastern Bloc armour and decided
upon fighting an asymmetric underdog war. The general NATO strategy was to
trade space for time which entailed letting the Soviet forces invade Europe in
order to buy time for a counter-attack. Alexanders place within this umbrella
strategy was to develop weapons that would delay the Soviet forces. He reasoned that it would be easier and quicker to disable enemy tanks rather than
destroying them outright and began the development of antimatriel weapons
which would attack the mobility and communications of enemy tanks, causing
mechanical failures.

inevitable. While the military technicians were projecting their weapons systems up to twenty years into the future, their predictions for the political situation proved less far-sighted and they were caught off guard. Ironically, weapons
that were designed to disable rather than kill became operational just as their
intended enemy was disappearing. How frustrating it must have been for the
weapons technicians to see all their hard work go to waste.

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A major concern is that the presence of TV cameras may cause soldiers to hesitate in
their decision to use deadly force [] The use of non-lethal weapons, supported by
lethal weapons, can be more readily employed in marginal situations [] Given the
reduced likelihood of fatalities or serious injuries, the reason for hesitation should be
eliminated. Dr. John Alexander, 1999

REALITY TRAINING

50

Alexander had finally found a logical use for his non-lethal technology. Realising
that existing crowd control weapons were inadequate he shifted his focus from
antimatriel weapons towards a revolutionary range of soft-kill weapons. TV
cameras that would have previously recorded the bullet entering the head of the
ten year old in slow motion, would now only show fleeing or unconscious people. Using non-lethal weapons, complex ethical decisions are removed, allowing
the military mind to concentrate on what it has been trained for.

Mayday 2001, London

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We are still trapped in Holles Street. The

double row of riot police in front of us
shuffles forward and one of the officers
pushes me back with his shield. I fix my
gaze on him and notice a little CE
marking just beneath the translucent top
layer of the shield. I dont feel reassured
by the fact that the shield conforms to
European safety standards.

The black gauntlets he is wearing are padded front and back with hard plastic
strips designed for special restraint techniques. His black cotton overall has been
sprayed with Barrathea - a coating designed to make petrol run off. Underneath
he is wearing a 16 or 25 layer Kevlar body armour and a cricket box. Strapped to
his belt is a pair of handcuffs, a can of pepper spray and a personal fire
extinguisher that lasts eight seconds. He has the choice of an ASP expandable
baton or a PR24 side handled baton. His legs are covered by hard polycarbonate
leg protectors jointed at the knee. On his feet he is wearing heavy leather boots
with metal toe-caps and a metal shank. A flash-fire resistant balaclava is
covering both his mouth and nose. On his head is a blue fire retardant riot
helmet with a shatter-proof visor.
His visor is steamed up as he has been standing in the rain staring at us for the
last six hours. A huge communal chant goes up: Let us OUT, let us OUT, let us
OUT, and continues until it changes to, WE pay your fucking wages, WE pay
your fucking wages, WE pay your fucking wages.

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! The Hybrid III 50th Percentile

male dummy. Representing the
average adult male, it is used to
simulate full frontal car crashes as well
as non-lethal weapon impacts.

! Arwen 37. "It is meant to crack a

rib and put them in a lot of pain," said
Toronto Police Constable Bob Leighton.
Riot police are usually required to test
non-lethal weapons such as Tasers on
themselves. But Leighton states that it
would be "too dangerous" to do so
with the Arwen 37.

Soft Weapons

His hands are forced to hang down by the side of his body. His back is propped
upright against a wooden board while the rest of his body is secured with plastic restraints. Walking back to the second distance marker the technician makes
a note on his clip board and casually levels the weapon. Pulling the trigger, a
large-calibre sponge grenade smacks dully into the restrained corpse. The aim of
this gruesome research is not the standard military rationale of trying to maximise bodily damage, but rather to push the body to the edge of its limits without exceeding it. Research produced in the civilian sector by the car industry to
improve safety was the initial source of information used by weapon technicians
searching for new ways to cause survivable injuries. Ultimately, this car crash
data proved insufficient and new systematic studies were commissioned using
live animals such as pigs, dogs, baboons as well as human cadavers. In order to
save money and to increase realism a range of inanimate surrogates are now
used to simulate the injuries.
The Hybrid III family of surrogates includes: 5th per centitile female, 50th per centitile male, 95th per centitile male, 6 month old, 3 month old and 6 year old. Each of
these surrogates correlates with the anthropomorphic grouping it represents in relation to its external dimensions and compliance of internal structures. Development
of a Low-Cost Portable Surrogate

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By simulating a complete family it becomes clear that the entire population is

the target for these weapons. The thin line between life and death is a narrow
statistical band drawn on graph paper with a sizeable proportion of the population falling on the wrong side. The Human Effects Advisory Panel is a body that
produces guidelines for the non-lethal weapons industry. According to their classifications a weapon is non-lethal if it incapacitates 98% of the population, has
no effect on 1%, whilst causing permanent damage to the remaining 1% half
of whom will die. Transposing these figures to the recent Mayday protests in
London, if all those 5,000 participants were targeted, we could expect fifty permanent injuries of which twenty five would die.

Stand-Off Weapons
The hardest guy to defeat is the guy with the stick and the guy with the drum, the kid
with the rock. Chris and Janet Morris, pioneers of non-lethal weapons
The rock has always been the archetypal street weapon, but in the near future
its role as the weapon of the disenfranchised looks set to disappear. According
to John Alexander the furthest a teenage boy can throw a rock is 63 metres plus
bounces. The American military have so far spent ten years and over $40 million
on devising a weapon that will clear this magic distance of protesters. Their primary answer the VMADS (Vehicle Mounted Active Denial System) uses
microwave radiation in the millimetre wavelength range to penetrate into the
human skin and heat the bodys water molecules. The microwaves behave just
like a normal microwave oven, generating an electromagnetic field that reverses a few billion times per second twisting water molecules back and forth, forcing them to rub against each other which is then felt as heat. Once this heat
exceeds 45C we feel pain. The current test system is set to heat the skin to
54C apparently creating a burning sensation, similar to a hot light bulb pressed
against ones flesh. Once fully implemented the operational system will be
tuneable, allowing the amount and length of exposure to be varied, meaning
that serious injuries as well as long term effects like genetic damage leading to
death are real possibilities.
The effect exploits a natural defence mechanism pain that has evolved to
protect the human body from damage. Lt. Colonel Beason and Dr. Hackett,
creators of VMADS

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A When a boy with a rock faces a high

tech army, that boy will win [] in
public opinion unless you can be less
lethal than that rock. Janet Morris

% Vehicle Mounted Active Denial

System. The computer generated
image shows the microwave system in
its proposed operational state
mounted on a Humvee military
vehicle. There are also plans to mount
the weapon on ships, planes and
helicopters.

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We instinctively react to pain by flinching away. With VMADS effective range of

Isolation Weapons

over 750 metres a hasty retreat is the only option. The pain effect is graduated
creating an invisible pain barrier that can be moved to break up the crowd or to

Hit once they normally dont come back for round two. Dr. John Alexander

contain them. Controlling the stand-off space not only insures officer safety but
more importantly frustrates the crowd through a psychological tactic the police
call the ritualisation of aggression.
Gendarmes have understood this very well for a long time: they hit their shields, a ritual, a gesture quite like the ones animals use. It is the same with the demonstrators.
Shouting, colours. It is just like Sioux war paintings. And on our side, we answer with
another kind of gesture: wearing helmets, putting our visors down, beating the
shields, letting the men progress in a line or in a column. We all know this.
Director of Training at the Paris Police Prefecture
Separated by a chasm of fear the two sides oppose each other. Unable to move,
the physical potential of the crowd is checked and forced to dissipate into sublimated aggression. All political or social meanings are lost as the crowd is forced
into expressive rather than active behaviour. The protesters have been pushed
into a symbolic and ultimately demoralising way of voicing their discontent.
While the ritualised exchange of aggression appears equal it is actually one
sided, being maintained only by the threat of police violence. An article in
Business Life magazine was surprisingly close to the truth when it cynically
called this kind of stand-off the folk dance of disorder.

The same way our vision is limited to certain wavelengths, our hearing is also
restricted to certain frequencies. Any sound waves outside of this range cannot
be heard and are called ultra and infrasound. In the border regions just below and
just above this range vibrations are still perceived but not through our normal
senses. The audio part of the Photic Driver exploits this phenomena and directs
infrasound at 4Hz toward the protesters. These subsonic waves set up vibrations
in the victims body cavities causing effects like hyper-ventilation, chest convulsions and possible life threatening injuries, all without any apparent sound. Since
the source of these strange sensations cannot be pinpointed, the unity between
the victims senses becomes ruptured triggering anxiety and panic attacks. As
paranoia spreads through the crowd the individuals feel isolated and the unity
of the group is broken.

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62

The protesters have almost reached the police lines when five percent of the group
suddenly drops to the ground with epileptic fits. The rest cannot see or hear anything, but feel strange throbbing sensations in their eyes and ears. A quarter of the
crowd then start vomiting uncontrollably. Around one hundred metres away a
shiny weapon, the Photic Driver, is mounted on a tripod. This weapon combines
two unusual optical and acoustic phenomena into one weapon. The optical part
uses an invisible infrared strobe pulse to penetrate eyelids and flash in the dangerous frequency range of 10Hz to 30Hz. These pulses interfere with the function
of the brain causing neural cells to fire in sync with the flashes creating giddiness,
nausea and fainting. If enough cells fire together a chain reaction results in an
epileptic fit even in those people with no previous history of epilepsy.

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The crowd is self-fullfiling, you need to make them go away, break up the mass,
break up the intent of the crowd and stop them feeding off each other. Dr. John
Alexander, 2001

The following list was compiled by the United States Air Force Institute for
National Security circa 1997 and has subsequently been declassified. Whilst
bound to exclude some of the most advanced and secretive projects, it provides
an overview of the current state of this technology and indicates the future
directions these weapons may take.

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SOFT WEAPONS

64

Since the cohesion of the crowd is seen as the breeding ground for the collective
contagion it is combated with anti-viral emergency measures. The intuitive
belief is that by containing people in small pockets the contagion will run out of
hosts to spread to and die. Or by dispersing the crowd the collective contagion
might be diluted enough to leave behind dazed but rational individuals. As well
as a military officer and weapon developer, John Alexander also possesses a PhD
in the experimental branch of psychology called Thantology meaning he is literally a doctor of death. His specialist knowledge of the psychological effects of
near-death experiences has allowed him to produce a hi-tech arsenal of
acoustic, optical and holographic weapons that combine the brutality of the military with the subtlety of psychology. The resulting hybrid gives the military the
ultimate means to fight the mental/physical crowd contagion.

Non-Lethal Inventory

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Acoustic weapons
Beam. High power, very low frequency
beam emitted from a piston-driven or
detonation-driven pulser which forces
compressed air into tubes to generate
a low frequency wave.

Bullets. High power, very low

frequency waves emitted from one to
two metre antenna dishes. Results in
blunt object trauma from waves
generated in front of the target. Effects
range from discomfort to death. A
Russian device that can propel a 10hertz sonic bullet the size of a baseball
hundreds of yards is thought to exist.
Curdler Unit. Plugged into an HPS-1
sound system to produce a shrill
shrieking, blatting noise, it is used to
irritate and disperse rioters with a
decibel range just below that of the
danger level to the human ear. Used in
night operations to produce a
voodoo effect and effectively breaks
up chanting, singing and clapping.
Deference Tones. Devices which can
project a voice or other sound to a
particular location.
HPS-1 Sound System. A 350 watt
sound system with an audible voice
range of 2 1/2 miles. Used by the
military in Indo-China and then
supplied to law enforcement agencies.
First used by police forces at San
Francisco State College and Berkeley in
the 1960s.
Infrasound. Very low-frequency sound
which can travel long distances and
penetrate most buildings and vehicles.
Transmission of long wavelength
sound creates biophysical effects;
nausea, loss of bowels, disorientation,

Squawk Box. Crowd dispersal weapon

field tested by the British Army in
Ireland in 1973. Directional device
emits two ultrasonic frequencies which
when mixed in the human ear become
intolerable. Produces giddiness, nausea
or fainting. The beam is so small that it
can be directed at specific individuals
in a riot situation.
Teleshot. Cartridge projecting a
powerful sonic device delivered by a
12-gauge shotgun. Experimental use in
1972.
Ultrasound. Very high frequency
sound. Like infrasound a lot of power is
required to generate these waves
which create biophysical effects.

Anti-lethal weapons

Codweight. Heavy weight to which a

diversionary device is attached to
allow it to be thrown through wind
screens, window glass, bushes and
similar materials.

CamouflageActive. Created by
dynamically matching the object to be
camouflaged to its background colours
and light levels through a sensor array,
rendering it virtually invisible to the
eye. This data is then computer
matched and reproduced on a pixel
array covering the viewing surface of
the object to be camouflaged.

Laser ProtectionBLPS. Ballistic and

Laser Protective Spectacles. Since
1988, these devices have been issued
to high priority Army and Marine Corps
units. BLPS are dye-filled
polycarbonate plastic filters which will
protect eyesight against the lowenergy lasers most likely encountered
on todays battlefield.

CamouflageMetamorphic. Uniforms
or paint which change colour due to
either light or heat sensitivity.
Extremely useful for night and day
operations and those taking place in
urban environments.

SensorAcoustic. Remote sensors

placed in an area overwatch position in
urban zones to detect and locate
gunfire within that area.

Diversionary Device. Hand thrown

pyrotechnic device which emits a loud
bang and dazzling light when ignited.
The device is designed to create a
sensory overload which temporarily
causes confusion and an inability to
effectively respond to a tactical teams
actions.
Flash Stick. Pole to which a
diversionary device is affixed, allowing
it to be precisely placed and held
during ignition. Often used for exact
insertion through chain link fences,
windows, heavy brush etc.
Photic Driver. A crowd control device
developed by a British company prior
to 1973 which uses ultrasound and
flashing infrared lights to penetrate
closed human eyelids. Potential for
epileptic fits because of the
stroboscopic flashing effect. May have
been employed by South African Police
during interrogations.
Psychocorrection. Technology
invented by a Russian scientist that
involves influencing subjects visually
or aurally with imbedded subliminal
messages.

CounterSniper. Electronic sniperlocating systems based on acoustic,

shock wave or infrared measuring
technologies. Provides the location of a
hostile sniper to a sniper team or to an
automated counter-sniper system
which can fire either a kinetic round or
a low-energy laser at the hostile sniper.
ElectronicFalse Target Generation.
Electronic device that creates and
presents an image of a target to a
precision laser-guided weapon which
causes the weapon to aim at the false
target.
ElectronicShell Detonator. A system
fielded by U.S. troops in Bosnia which
creates an electronic field that causes
mortar and artillery shells to explode
prematurely by signalling to them that
they have reached their target.
Electromagnetic Shielding. Defence
against microwave attack. A metal box,
known as a Faraday Cage, can
function as one by excluding
electromagnetic fields.
Food Bomb. Humanitarian use of nonlethal weapons. Places concentrated
food pellets rather than anti-personnel
bomblets in a cluster bomb unit. For
use in cities under siege on the verge of
starvation.

Barrier weapons

SensorFacial Recognition
Technology. Recognises human facial
features and compares them to
databases of wanted suspects. Great
potential for apprehending terrorists in
airport terminals and criminals in large
crowds. More advanced subdermal
systems will be required as a follow-on
to these systems as a counter to
criminals or non-state soldiers who
surgically alter their facial features.
SensorGround Penetrating Radar.
Can detect nongeologic objects and
human engineered structures beneath
the ground by analysing the return of
electromagnetic waves travelling
through geologic structures. Detection
of buried mines and
discovery/mapping of underground
bunkers represent practical, non-lethal
applications.
SensorNonimaging Portable Radar.
Weighs less than 10 pounds, uses
rechargeable batteries, is small enough
to fit into a briefcase and will detect
motion through nonmetallic walls and
floors. Using sounds instead of images,
it detects motion and can transmit to
a receiver up to a distance of 200 feet.
Smart Gun. Can only be used by the
proper user or users. Identification is
automatic and would be carried out by
radio frequency signals or other
technologies.

Air Bag, Backseat. Designed to hold in

place a suspect placed in a police car.
Caltrops. A personnel and vehicular
barrier device with four projecting
spikes so arranged that when three of
the spikes are on the ground, the
fourth points upward. Caltrops were
used in Somalia by the Marines during
United Shield to supplement key
barrier systems at night during the
final hours of the withdrawal.
CoatingSlick. Teflon-type lubricants
which create a slippery surface where
the chemical agents reduce friction
with the intent to inhibit the free
movement of the target. When applied
to a hard surface and wetted down,
this dry, non-toxic, non-corrosive white
powder becomes ice slick. It becomes
virtually impossible for an individual to
move or stand up on a hard surface so
treated.
Emulsifier. Agents, contained in a
mixture of mutually insoluble liquids,
which were dispersed over the Ho Chi
Minh trail to degrade the logistical
lifeline of Viet Cong forces during the
Vietnam War. Used in tandem with
clouding seeding.
FenceRPG. Conventional fencing,
usually 6 ft high, with barbed wire on
top. While the anti-mobility utility of
such fencing is apparent it also had an
anti-lethal capability. In Vietnam this
fencing was erected as a rocket
propelled grenade screen in front of
armoured fighting positions and
around command vehicles.
FoamAqueous. Originally derived
from a fire fighting compound used to
put out airplane fires. Barrier foam is a
derivative which is thicker in
consistency. This technology employs a
safe, biodegradable form of suds which
can be piled up to as high as four feet.
Barrier foam can be applied over
fences, concertina wire, ditches to be

Baton weapons
seeded with caltrops to prevent
vehicular passage. By applying the
foam over obstacles, it impedes the
ability to defeat them.
FoamAqueous Riot Control Agent.
The ordinary suds of barrier foam can
be enhanced with the addition of
substances such as oleoresin capsicum,
the primary ingredient in pepper
spray, or CS.
FoamSticky. Polymer-based
superadhesive agent. The technology
first began appearing in commercial
applications such as super glue and
quick setting foam insulation.
Extremely persistent and is virtually
impossible to remove without a liquid
solvent. Came to public attention on
February 28, 1995 when U.S. Marines
used it in Mogadishu, Somalia, to
prevent armed intruders from impeding
efforts to extricate United Nation
forces from that country.
SmokeCold. A thick, disorienting
cold smoke which can be generated
in areas from 2,000 to 50,000 cubic
feet. It restricts an intruders eye-hand
coordination and interactions among
members of an intruding group.
Spiked Strip. Resembling a fire hose
with retractable hollow spikes
designed to flatten the tyres of a
target automobile. When the strip is
activated, hollow spikes extend
vertically and puncture the tyres as
the vehicle rolls over the strip.
Stakes. Often of wood or bamboo,
that are concealed in high grass, deep
mud or pits. It is often coated with
excrement, and intended to wound
and infect the feet of enemy soldiers.
Can be utilized both as a booby trap
and as a barrier.
Wire/Tape-Barbed, Launcher.
Dispensing systems for flat barbed
tape and barbed wire which could be
quickly deployed into concertina form.

Biotechnicalinjector. An automatic
self-injecting syringe for administering
the antidote to nerve gas built into its
tip and filled with calmatives or other
biotechnical agents.
Breakaway. Made of a substance that
will break if used incorrectly
Electrical. Delivers an electric charge
of low voltage, powered by standard
flash-light cells.
Expandable. Measures 6 to 7 in
closed position. The three telescopic
sections rapidly flick open to an
extended 16 to 18.
Riot Control Agent. 12-26 plastic
baton which is able to protect riot
control agents.
Side-handle. Can be twirled for
greater impact and used more
effectively to block an opponents
blows.
Straight. Wooden, plastic, metallic rod
from 12 to 36 used as a swung
impact weapon.
Straight, FlashlightRiot Control
Agent. Shock resistance polyethylene
flash light. Besides providing a light
source, this flashlight can be used as a
baton and to protect a riot control
agent.
Two-handed Riot. The 36 long riot
baton is employed like a rifle and
bayonet - overhead blows could be
fatal.

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66

Blast Wave, Projector. Energy

generation from a pulsed laser that
will project a hot, high pressure plasma
into the air in front of a target. It
creates a blast wave with variable but
controlled effects on hardware and
troops.

vomiting, potential internal organ

damage or death may occur. Superior
to ultrasound because it is in band,
meaning that its does not lose its
properties when it changes mediums
such as from air to tissue.

Optical weapons

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Biotechnical
weapons
Behaviouraltering Drugs. Suggested
delivery in a gaseous form for terrorist
and hostage situations.

Calmatives. Sleep-inducing drugs;

includes alfentinil, fentanyls, ketamine
and BZ. Several of them make ideal
choices for this application when
mixed with dimethyl sulfoxide
(DMSO), which promotes absorption
through skin to quickly sedate persons
contacted. DMSO introduces the
calmative agent into the bloodstream
by increasing the epidermal absorption
rate by about 1,000 percent.
Disease Organisms. Nonfatal
diseases targeted toward troops and
civilians. Such viral agents were
developed by Iraq to be used against
Western forces during the Gulf War so
as to create long term disabling
injuries.
Genetic Alteration. Changing genetic
code to create a desired less-thanlethal but longterm disablement
effect, perhaps for generations, thereby
creating a societal burden.
Hypodermic Syringedart. Modified
shotgun or handgun in which the
projectile is a drug-filled syringe
activated by a small charge on impact.
Wide variety of drugs available
including emetic (vomiting) agents.
Malodorous Agents. Such as
hydrogen sulphide or a compound
known as NaS8 which is used in
making plastics. Could be delivered by
a grenade. Past work on cultural
specific agents has also been
undertaken.

Pheromones. The chemical substances

released by animals to influence
physiology or behaviour of other
members of the same species. One use
of pheromones, at the most elemental
level, could be to mark target
individuals and then release bees to
attack them.
Wetware. Advanced technology
devices which are surgically implanted
into the body rather than worn. These
devices can be used to enhance
memory and the human senses,
modify behaviour or to locate allied
troops. Pacemakers represent an early
form of wetware.

Electromagnetic
weapons

Entangler weapons

Hologram weapons

Marker weapons

Obscurant weapons

Armoured Personnel Carrier. Fitted

with a gate-like apparatus in the front
and charged to a high voltage. Used by
West German police to clear streets or
round up small groups of people.

High Power Microwave [HPM],

Weapons. Energy generated by a
conventional electromagnetic
apparatus, such as a radar transmitter,
or released from a conventional
explosion converted into a radiofrequency weapon which causes the
disruption of electronic systems. HPMs
can also cause human unconsciousness
without permanent maiming by
upsetting the neural pathways in the
brain.

Animal Comealong. A pole with a

looped wire attached to one end.
When the wire is placed around the
neck of a subject and then tightened it
produces a choking effect.

Death. Used to scare a target

individual to death. Example, a drug
lord with a weak heart sees the ghost
of his dead rival appearing at his
bedside and dies of fright.

Foam Dye. Hand held device which is

used to spray green foaming dye into
the face of an opponent. Obscures
vision and marks the target for one
week for future identification.

Bola. Device consisting of two or three

heavy balls attached by one or two
ropes/cords and used for
entanglement purposes. It is twirled
overhead in one hand and hurled or
cast at the intended target. Designed
to entangle legs to retard/stop
movement.

Prophet. The projection of the image

of an ancient god over an enemy
capitol whose public communications
have been seized and used against it in
a massive psychological operation.

Invisible. Fluorescent powder sprayed

into crowds from pressurized
container. Particles adhere to clothing
and are only visible under ultraviolet
light. Another concept envisions
sponge grenades impregnated with
infrared dye so that rioters can be later
identified.

Crazing. High powered, low energy

laser weapons have the capability of
heating and distorting or cracking the
glass lenses of optical systems. The
result is a frosted effect, making it
impossible to see through the glass
lenses or vision blocks (glass windows)
in tanks.

Fence. Delivers a non-lethal electrical

shock and can be employed as an
effective barrier against intruders.
Glove. With an electric impulse
generator in the palm and the bottom
sides of the glove fingers. A close-in
device similar to the electric stun gun
and the electric flashlight.
Police Jacket. Which jolts anyone who
touches it.
Projector. An advanced version of the
standoff stun gun, where no wires are
required. The charges are delivered
through the air through pre-ionised air
channels or by charging a low energy
projectile which releases the charge at
impact.
Stun Belt. A command activated belt
worn by prisoners which delivers a
mild electric shock when they become
combative.
Stun GunClose in. A small, twopronged, hand held electrical discharge
weapon. Effective range is less than an
arm length. It works by affecting the
muscle signal paths, disturbing the
nerve system.
Stun GunStandoff. With a range of
20 feet. It fires small, barbed electrical
contactors, via a fine trailing wire,
which snare a victims clothing. A 3-4
second lapse takes place before the
target is subdued. The development of
this device was inspired by the Watts
Riots in 1965.
Water Stream. A mobile unit projects
a water stream charged with high
voltage, low amperage. Another
method cites 2 water jets, 1 negatively
charged and 1 positively charged,
which meet to close the circuit.

Pulse, Nonnuclear, Weapons.

Mounted on cruise missiles or
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
which would disable enemy tanks and
early warning radars would be
invaluable. Such weapons when they
explode would produce a momentary
burst of microwaves powerful enough
to disable all but special, radiationhardened electronic devices.
Rocket-powered Unit. Unmanned
miniature-wheeled vehicle launched by
a police cruiser which delivers an
electromagnetic energy pulse to the
underside of a fleeing cars engine
controls and associated sensors to
disable it.
Thermal Gun. A device that directs
energy to produce heat, in concept
similar to a microwave oven.

Cloggers. Polymer agents, sticky-soft

plastics, used in burst munitions to
clog up jet and tank engine intakes.
CloggersColoured. When mixed
with dyes result in tinted clouds
whose presence let friendly forces
know not to enter them.
Monofilament Fishing Line. When
spread out on snow, monofilament
fishing line may be sucked into a
snowmobiles track mechanism and
cause it to jam.
NetElectrified shot. From a gun at a
targeted individual. Will release an
electric shock if the target tries to
struggle.
Net, Gun. Entangles a human or
vehicular target. One such net is 18
feet wide and employs glue-coated
strands. Another is 28-foot-wide, fired
from a cannon and can envelope a car
or armoured vehicle.
Net, MineHuman. Detonation fires a
net into the air which lands upon a
soldier target.
Net, MineVehicular. A device laid
across a road which shoots a fabric
barrier up about to 2 meters to
ensnare an oncoming vehicle.
NetPoles. A capture device based on
a pair of 6 foot nylon poles that have a
strong chain interlaced between them.

SoldiersForces. Images which make

an opponent think more allied forces
exist than actually do, make an
opponent believe that allied forces are
located in a region where none
actually exist, and/or provide false
targets for his weapons to fire upon.

Paint Gun. Gelatine capsule

containing a marking agent which
splatters on impact leaving a 3 circle
and streamers from 12 to 18.
Smart Metals. Metals formed with
chemical additives or blended in a
particular form so that they would
function only when used for legitimate
purposes or give off tell tale signs to
inspectors when used improperly.
Smoke Dyes. Marking dye added to
smoke during crowd control situations.

LaserArgon Beam. Aimed at

windows, automobile windshields or
airplane canopies for vision denial
purposes. Microabrasions in the glass
scatter this particular wavelength of
light turning the entire sheet a glaring,
opaque green.
Myopia. The inability of the human
eye to focus light from infinity
accurately, which, in practical terms,
means beyond approximately 20 feet.
If induced through nerve/chemical
agents, performance degradation could
be dramatic, especially in aviation
operations, because studies indicate
that as much as 85% of pilot sensory
perception/ performance is through
sight.
SmokeColoured. Coloured smoke
concentrations produce greater initial
psychological and panic effect than
white smoke. Caucasians are said to
have a greater repugnance to brilliant
green smoke, which is associated with
disagreeable personal experiences such
as seasickness, bile and vomit.
Negroids and Latins are declared to be
most adversely affected by brilliant
red. Rioters confronted with a strong
concentration of coloured smoke feel,
instinctively, that they are being
marked, or stained, and thus they lose
anonymity.
SmokeWhite. Relatively inexpensive,
non-toxic, noncontaminating and
tactically ideal for police use.
Obscuring smokes are temporarily
irritating to the nose and throat, and
cause those affected to lose visibility,
sense of purpose and direction.

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68

Biodegrading Microbes. Turn storage

tanks full of aviation fuel into useless
jelly. Such microbes may produce acids
or enzymes which can be tailored to
degrade almost anything, even
concrete and metal.

Neuroimplant. Computer implants

into the brain which allow for
behavioural modification and control.
Current research is experimental in
nature and focuses on lab animals
such as mice.

Electrical weapons

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Optical weapons
Bucha Effect. High intensity strobe
lights which flash at near human brain
wave frequency causing vertigo,
disorientation, and vomiting.

Dazer. Battery-operated 20,000

candlepower flashlight. Uses an
alexandrite laser and is meant to
provide infantry with a non-lethal
capability against armoured targets by
attacking sensors, night vision devices
and personnel.
Dazzle Rifle. A rifle which emits an
eye-safe argon-ion laser beam
designed to disorient the target.
Illuminatinggrenade. In night
ambushes in Vietnam the MK1
Illuminating Grenade, which produced
55,000 candlepower for 25 seconds,
effectively blinded Viet Cong caught in
the centre of its illumination zone for
short periods of time.
Isotropic Radiators. Special
munitions that illuminate or bloom
with laser-bright intensity causing the
same retinal or optical damage as low
energy laser weapons. Isotropic
radiation is generated by an explosive
burst that superheats a gaseous
plasma surrounding it, causing a laserbright flash.
Laser Countermeasures System.
M-16 rifle-mounted and backpackpowered 42 pound system. Can detect
and disrupt optical and electro-optical
targeting systems at stand-off
ranges. While not specifically intended
to harm human eyes, the system was
cancelled so U.S. troops would not be
subjected to war crimes concerns.
Laser Dazzle System [LDS]. U.K.
Royal Navys low energy laser system

deployed during the 1982 Falklands

war by two of its frigates.
Laser-Infrared CO2. Laser which can
heat the skin of a target to cause pain
but will not burn the skin. Application
against the hand of a suspect holding
a knife or gun to a hostage.
Light Flashing Devices. Devices
which are much like a photographers
flash bulb but at a greatly increased
power. They are used to disorient
target individuals by causing
temporary flash blindness.
Stroboscopic Device. Devices
employed against demonstrators
which cause stroboscopic flashing.
Same principle as a discotheque
strobe. In the 5-15 hertz range these
devices can cause various physical
symptoms and in a small portion of
the population may trigger epileptic
seizures.

BagBean. Fabric sacks filled with lead

shot weighing from 40 to 150 grams,
designed to be fired from 12 gauge
shotguns and 37mm (40mm)
launchers. The bags conform to the
shape of the target on impact,
producing less damage than a solid
hard projectile. The bags are rolled in
the cartridge and unroll after exiting
the launch barrel.
BallRubber, Round. Have maximum
effect when fired in confined spaces,
where multiple bounces augment the
number of impacts on the target with
sufficient force to sting rather than
hurt. The eyes are the most at risk of
damage, due to the small size and
velocity of the balls. The ball can be
solid or filled with liquid or gas.
Barricade Penetrating. Any projectile
which delivers a riot control agent into
a barricade situation via a window or
plate-glass. One such projectile is a fin
stabilized injection-moulded plastic
device which disperses a highlyvolatile liquid CS agent.
BatonPlastic. A PVC cylinder 1/2 in
diameter and 4 long. Instead of being
bounced off of the ground these
rounds are directly fired at the
intended target. Causes a bruising
impact blow with a claimed effective
range of 30 to 65 yards. At point blank
range this round can be fatal. First
used by the British Army in Northern
Ireland in February of 1973 as a
replacement for rubber bullets.
BatonRubber. Pliable rubber
cylindrical projectiles delivered from
the riot gun or British Army signal gun.
Aimed at crowds legs or at the ground
for ricochet effect into a crowd.
BatonWooden. Wooden cylinder
delivered by a riot gun or by a British
Army signal gun.
BatonWooden Multiple. A 3738mm round which disperses 5

wooden pellets which can be fired

from a distance or ricocheted into the
mob. Direct fire at close or point blank
range can cause serious or fatal
injuries.
BatonWooden Whistling. A short
fluted cylinder made of wood and fired
at low-velocity for crowd dispersal.
This round makes a whistling sound
when fired.
Gas Vortex. If a gas vortex, a highly
stable phenomenon, was projected at
some velocity, the difference in
pressure on the leading and trailing
edges would produce an impact.
Potential use in crowd and riot control
situations.
LauncherARWEN. Anti-Riot Weapon
Enfield. A hand-held, cylinder fed,
shoulder-launched 37mm anti-riot
weapon which is used to launch a
variety of impact devices such as bean
bags, pellets, rubber and wooden baton
rounds, etc.
LauncherVelocity Adjusting. Small
arms weapon with an adjustable
muzzle velocity intended for delivery
of less-than-lethal munitions such as
rubber or PVC bullets.
Liquid Filled. Several types of hollow
rubber projectiles have been
manufactured. The most recent, in a 12
ga. shotgun size, is filled with a liquid
dye to mark the target for subsequent
identification, in addition to the
impact effect. Working range is from 5
to 75 feet.
MineClaymore. Modular Crowd
Control Munition. A non-lethal
claymore-type mine which disperses
blunt impact ordnance for crowd
control purposes.
RicochetSoft Plastic. Polyethylene
pellets 1/16 in diameter delivered from
a standard 12-gauge shotgun aimed to
ricochet. Available in larger sizes.

Ring Airfoil GrenadeSoft. A

rubberised donut shape with airfoil
cross-section that is launched spinning
from M234 adapter attached to
M16A1 rifle. A series of cavities in the
projectile body contain packets of CS
powder. Target impact opens the CS
packets and disseminates the
chemical.
Ring Airfoil GrenadeSting. Intended
as an initial deterrent via kinetic
energy impact.
Rock Salt. Large salt crystals fired
from shot guns. Crowd dispersal
method.
Rubber. These projectiles can be solid
(homogeneous) or clad (composite).
The large cylinders fired to strike the
ground in front of the target
individuals, bouncing up to hit them.
Sponge Grenade. 40mm nonlethal
projectile developed for the M203
grenade launcher made out of spongy
material. Can either be used as a
kinetic weapon or with the inclusion of
a CS or marking dye wafer. Potentially
fatal within 25 meters or if an eye
shot occurs.
Water Stream. Mobile unit which
projects a continuing stream of water
for riot control purposes.

Reactant weapons

Riot control agent

weapons

Acetylene, Grenade. One pound

bomb containing calcium carbide and
water. Upon detonation, forms a
bubble of acetylene gas seven feet in
diameter. When sucked into the air
intake of a diesel at concentrations as
little as one percent, the gas would
cause the fuel in each cylinder to
ignite prematurely, with enough force
to break piston rods.

Area Dispensers. Dispensers mounted

in the walls and ceilings of prison
facilities. They provide law
enforcement personnel the ability to
move groups out of or from one area
to another through CS and OC
(Oleoresin Capsicum) dispersement.

Chemical Compounds. Which are

magnitudes more powerful than
hydrofluoric acid. Could be delivered
by binary weapons to attack
structures, armoured fighting vehicles,
roads, roof tops and optical systems.
Cloud Seeding. Silver iodide dropped
into clouds over the Ho Chi Minh trail
during the Vietnam War in order to
promote additional rainfall which
would degrade Viet Cong logistics.
Liquid Metal Embrittlement [LME].
Agents operate by altering the
molecular structure of base metals or
alloys and could significantly interfere
with the operation of the aircraft,
vehicles, metal treads and bridge
supports. LMEs are clear and have little
or no perceptible residue, whether
sprayed on or applied with felt-tip
markers.
LME Graffiti. Graffiti used to mask an
LME strike against a bridge or other
target. Great potential for terrorist use.
Example, phone call to law
enforcement stating that an LME strike
has been conducted against one of a
number of bridges in a city using red
LME graffiti.
Pyrophoric Particles. Particles which
when ingested in a combustion
chamber give off heat and thus
overheat the chamber causing thermal
failure.

Chemical Mace. Small spray can

containing a 0.9 per cent solution of
agent CN in a variety of petroleum
based carriers including a mixed
freon/hydrocarbon solvent. First
introduced in 1966.
CR. Riot control irritant developed in
England in 1962. About 5 times more
effective than CS. In addition, CR is
much less toxic than CS. It is used in
solution as a riot control agent. Eye
pain, discomfort and excessive tearing
occur with sometimes painful
sensitivity to strong light or temporary
blindness. Symptoms can persist for 15
to 30 minutes.
CS. Made the standard riot control
agent by the US Army in 1959. The
term CS is derived from the two
scientists, B.B. Carson and R.W.
Sloughton, who first prepared it in
1928. First used by U.S. civilian law
enforcement in 1968 during the riots
in Washington D.C. While an effective
riot control agent, which incapacitates
on average from 5 to 10 minutes,
decontamination and crosscontamination is a considerable
problem in urban environments.
CS2. This form of CS prolongs the
effectiveness for both immediate and
surface contamination effects. When
disturbed, CS2 reaerosolises to cause
respiratory and eye effects.
DisperserFogger. Conventional
insecticide blower adopted for CS and
CN dispensing in Vietnam. Conceptual
basis was to fill Viet Cong tunnel
complexes with large amounts of the
CS agent. Another fogger was a

handheld gasoline-operated device

which dispenses either CS, CN or inert
fog at 0.7 gallon/hour.
DisperserLiquid. A US Army riotcontrol agent dispersent resembling a
flame-thrower. Fully loaded weight is
approx. 55 pounds.
DisperserPowder. Modified DryPowder Fire Extinguisher. Powdered CS
and CN dispersal.
Grenade Electrically Activated. Riot
control grenade with a male,
electrically activated screw-in socket
connection in place of a standard fuse.
This enables the grenades to be
incorporated into electrical systems, in
fixed installations, where they can be
activated by a trip device or switch.
GrenadeM47 CS. Basic riot control
grenade employed by the Army. Its
contents are expelled as a vapour from
a taped-over port in the grenade body,
causing the grenade to skitter around
on the ground, making it difficult for
rioters to throw back.
Lacrimator. A riot control irritant that
will cause blinding tears upon contact
with the eyes.
LauncherHandy Andy. U.S. Army
hand-hold type throwaway munition
consisting of an aluminium tube with
a hand-activated striker in the base.
On ignition, the E24 propels a
cylindrical rubber projectile containing
50 grams of CS burning formulation to
distances of 70-100 yards.
Mine. An anti-personnel mine filled
with a riot control agent. For perimeter
use around detention camps or
secured facilities.
OC. (Oleoresin Capsicum). A food
product obtained from chili peppers
which are dried and ground into a fine
powder. When mixed with an
emulsifier such as mineral, vegetable,
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70

Cobra. Prototype of the AN/PLQ-5

Laser Countermeasures System. A 30pound hand-held laser weapon used to
damage enemy sensors and human
eyes.

Projectile weapons

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Operational
Concepts
Denial System. Components of a
security system that prevent an
intruder or adversary from completing
an intrusive hostile act on a fixed
sight.

Tear GasInvisible. Invisible tear-gas

clouds are produced by blast
munitions loaded with dust or liquid
agents. Invisible tear gas cannot be
seen by rioters once it first emerges
from a grenade or mechanical
dispenser and therefore produces a
greater psychological panic-producing
effect than tear smoke.

Dirty Battlefield. A battlefield

operational environment in which
civilians and other noncombatants are
mixed in with combatants.

Tear GasVisible. Visible tear-gas

clouds emanate from burning grenades
and projectiles. Tear smoke is highly
visible and plainly indicates the area
covered to police and rioter alike.

Immediate Action Drill. Any action,

technique or procedure which is
initiated by an event rather than a
signal.
Long Term Disablement. The
outcome of the application of nonlethal force that affects the opponent
beyond duration of the confrontation
or conflict. Blinding, maiming or
psychologically deranging the
opponent represent forms of long term
disablement. This form of disablement
burdens a society and is anathema to
the Western definition of non-lethality.
Mobile Security System. Area/fixed
site denial or delay systems that are
portable, leveraging on non-lethal
technology and minimal installation
costs.
Mobile Tactics. A procedure used
against rioters in which an anti-riot
team is embarked on vehicles, rapidly
driven near rioters, whereupon they
quickly disembark and rush toward the
crowd, followed by another team
which repeats the procedure and
exploits the momentum gained by the
original team.
Non-lethalLethal Effect. A nonlethal attack which purposefully sets
up an opposing soldier or vehicle for a
fatal attack. Example, a soldier struck
to the ground by a stickem and then
shot by a conventional round or killed
by an artillery barrage.
Non-lethal Weapons, Western.
Weapons that are explicitly designed

and primarily employed so as to

incapacitate personnel or matriel,
while minimizing fatalities, permanent
injury to personnel, and undesired
damage to property and the
environment
Passive Deterrents. A genre of nonlethal weapons that does not affect
the physiology of the target individual.
Includes dyes, personal alarms, and
scent sprays.
Rules of Engagement [ROEs].
Generally, rules that provide
implementation guidance on actions
to exercise: 1. the inherent right and
obligation of self-defence and 2. the
application of force for mission
accomplishment by national or
multinational military forces in
international not domestic situations.
The many boundaries to ROEs include
international law, treaties and custom.
Second Order Effect. A non-lethal
attack ultimately resulting in an
unintentional death. For example, a
pilot, blinded by a laser unable to
safely land his or her aircraft or a
patient dies because the power to an
incubator or iron lung in a hospital is
cut off due to the destruction of a
power plant.
Short Term Disablement. Has
relatively reversible effects on
personnel or matriel.
Tailored Weaponry. Alternative, more
accurate, term for non-lethal
weaponry. Such weaponry is
qualitatively advanced over traditional
firearms and munitions because it
allows for precision control over the
application of politico-military force.
Rather than killing (100% force) or
not-killing (0% force) an opponent
these weapons offer new capabilities
in the 1-99% range between no action
and lethal force.

Theoretical
Concepts

Acetylcholine Effect. The temporary

effect an organism experiences after
long periods of high stress,
characterized by a total emotional
surrender. Derived from an
overabundance of the compound
acetylcholine which is active in the
transmission of nerve impulses.

Fourth Epoch War. Strategic level

theory of war utilizing an energy
paradigm of Western civilization. The
magnitude of change forecast is
equivalent in scale to the Dark Ages,
378-732, and the European
Renaissance, 1346-1648. During these
transformations a new energy source
is demonstrated on the battlefield, the
dominant polity form fails, the nonstate soldier achieves dominance on
the battlefield, crime and war blur, a
new economy emerges, social classes
shift, and advanced forms of
battlespace and weaponry develop.

Diversion. A diversion which acts

directly on a person by affecting one
or more of the five senses.
Impulse Noise. Noise which lasts less
than one second.
Lag Time. The physiological time lag
which occurs between the time a
stimulus is perceived until the body
responds. In a healthy, well-rested
human, this takes about three-quarters
of a second.
Rhodopsin. A purplish protein
pigment, contained in the rods of the
retina, that is transformed by the
action of light and is necessary for
vision in dim light.
Sensory Overload. A temporary
inability of an organism to correctly
interpret and appropriately respond to
lifes stimuli because of the volume of
input.
Ulster Techniques.
Psychophysiological techniques
employed by the British in Northern
Ireland based on sensory deprivation
which can lead to long-lasting posttraumatic neurosis. Methods used
included hooding, masking noise, wall
standing, inadequate diet, sleep
deprivation and some physical
brutality.

New Gunpowder Revolution. The

perception that the wide scale
application of non-lethal technology
on the battlefield will be as significant
as the fielding of gunpowder based
firearms during the European
Renaissance.
RMA. (Revolution in Military
Affairs). Operational level theory
which views military technical,
doctrinal, and force structure changes
now taking place equivalent in
magnitude to the 1920s and 1930s
when armoured warfare, strategic
bombing, and amphibious and carrier
operations developed.
RPMA. Fourth Epoch War theory
perception that a revolution in political
and military affairs (RPMA) is taking
place. Far larger than a revolution in
military affairs (RMA), this historical
transition will result in the eventual
demise of the nation-state, the
blurring of crime and war, and the rise
of new competing polity forms.
Third Wave War. Theory of future war
modelled on waves of economic
based civilizations. First wave
civilizations are agricultural, second
wave civilizations are industrial and
emerging third wave civilizations are
informational. Future warfare will be
informational based with the Gulf War

representing the first of these

conflicts. Magnitude of current change
now taking place viewed as equivalent
to that of the Industrial Revolution.
War, Clausewitzian. A struggle
between nation-states or their
coalitions over the preservation and
extension of national sovereignty.
War, Post-Clausewitzian. A struggle
between competing forms of social
and political organization over which
the eventual successor to the nationstate will be built.
Weapons of Mass Protection. Nonlethal, anti-lethal, and information
warfare weapons.

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72

from a variety of dispensers and used

as an irritant for safely controlling
violent persons or vicious animals
and/or restoration and maintenance of
order.

Physiological
Concepts

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77

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Still trapped in Holles Street and the

police have closed in tightly from both
sides. We have been here for six hours, it
is getting dark and everybody is hungry
and cold. There are little rivulets of piss
flowing from the concave corners of
buildings where people have been forced
to urinate.
A small group of people have started a little bonfire by the side of the road
with a few pieces of newspaper they found lying around. People are huddling
around the small fire to shield it from the wind. I hold my hands forward but
feel no heat from the tiny flames. Suddenly six riot policemen rush forward
barging through the huddled group and stamp out the fire. It takes one officer
about three seconds to put it out with his steel-capped boots. The crowd is
astonished. Boos and slow clapping. Well done. Congratulations. Someone a
little further along lights another match and tries to set fire to a single sheet
of paper. Again the forces of law and order rush in and stamp it out. More boos
and mock clapping. The polices pettiness is incredible. How sad that we are
reduced to this.

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, We need more tools of non-lethal

defence; baton grabbing jaws and giant
magnets, tennis bats for returning tear
gas, interlocking shields, itching powder
grenades, stink bombs, cream pies laced
with stinging chemicals, poo cannons,
urine holding tanks connected to hand
pumps and hoses! Anonymous
protester mailing list

Page 80

Protest Tools

How can people respond when they are faced with the full military onslaught of
the police state? The rules have changed. The military has brought fear weapons
into the city and protest is now forced to take place in public spaces meticulously designed to offer no protection to demonstrators. Protest has to choose
whether it is prepared to give up the street and retreat into remote politics. Its
only alternative appears to be the development of new tools and tactics that
allow protest to survive in the street. In response to the first generation of anticrowd weapons people used simple defensive tools to try to protect their own
bodies. Now with the second generation being introduced we need to move
away from weak personal tools towards active, collective tactics. While the
police have abandoned any attempt to hide their militarisation the protesters
must be seen to maintain the rules of the game. Any new tool needs to tread
the subtle balance between humorous provocation and serious confrontation.

81
P ROT E S T TO O L S

This is an all-out war at this point, and it is amazing to me that in the face of body
armour, batons, grenades, gas, pepper spray, rifles, and what is pretty much a tank,
we are defending ourselves with only wetted bandanas, swim goggles (if youre
lucky), baking soda, water solutions, and solidarity. Anonymous account of the
Seattle protests, 1999

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Barriers
We march with a mission and should those in power order others to stop us, we have
a right to defend our bodies as much as our message. Bodyhammer Manual, 2001

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82

In the last couple of years shields, helmets, armour and large barriers have
started to emerge on the protester side. Made of foam, inflatable rubber,
tarpaulin and other soft materials these tools have become DIY versions of
ancient armour made for the physical contest of the modern street. Once
stacked together in a roman tortoise formation the tools create a communal
barricade that offers safety from riot batons and non-lethal projectiles. By
interlinking arms and tightly grabbing the handles of the barrier the combined
body weight of the crowd can be brought to bear against the police lines. Any
technological advantage the police may have had is neutralised as the conflict
becomes a proto-democratic scrum of pushing and shoving. Crucially the barrier
acts as a psychological tool as well as a physical blockage. Activists who have
used the tactic comment that the shield wall becomes a visual divider that
blocks the sight of individuals on both sides and thus depersonalises the conflict
into two opposing forces. Being unable to see each other all personal aggression
is nullified. As the human wall of polypropylene starts to push through the police
lines, accounts tell of individual officers becoming isolated and panicking.
Routeing, they break their own lines and try to reform in small defensive circles.

Naples, March 17th 2001. Giant

Plexiglas shields and foam rolls are
used to push back the Italian police
lines. In desperation the police are
forced to use their rifles as crude clubs.
In order to sustain baton and projectile
blows the shield must be at least
1.5cm thick. Leather straps and ropes
affixed to one side act as handles.

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85
P ROT E S T TO O L S

People can see images on the TV news

that can't be manipulated: a mountain
of bodies that advances, seeking the
least harm possible to itself, against the
violent defenders of an order that
produces wars and misery. And the
results are visible, people understand
this, the journalists can't invent lies that
contradict the images; last but not least,
the batons bounce off the padding.
Ya Basta White Overall Movement.

Genoa. This example of police

brutality illustrates well the central
need for close cooperative crowd
tactics. Once isolated the individual
can easily be overwhelmed.

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We are still trapped in Holles Street.

Walking through the crowd I bump into a
man carrying his crying daughter. He
tells me that he was one of the
drummers from the samba band when
the police pushed back the crowd and
frightened his daughter.

Now he wants to get out. Bringing the band together they decide to
coordinate the crowd and push through the ranks of riot police. It had worked
earlier in the day enabling them to break multiple police cordons until we all
finally got trapped here by the mounted police. While its impossible to push
against horses we should be able to push though the double row of riot police
behind us. The band leader motions to the band. Drums start beating, the
crowd cheer and we begin to move.

89

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Coordination
The critical aspect to moving in any shield wall formation is unison. While demonstrators would discourage any individual to marshal a march, a form of organisation is
necessary. Bodyhammer Manual, 2001
The human barrier is only effective as long as it remains unbroken, which
requires considerable coordination and organisation. The dilemma is how to
achieve this unison without adopting the kind of rigid hierarchical systems used
by the military style opposition.
Unless it is possible to prepare and practice these tactics ahead of time, the best way
is the use of simple commands that can be shouted, including warnings of what is
ahead for those who cannot see. For keeping tight in a march at any pace, the best
method is a drum near the front [] or the calling off of steps, one, two, one, two...
Bodyhammer Manual, 2001
The protest manual proposes a system where every member is forced to take
responsibility for themselves as well as the group. Command has become an
autonomous system with no overall control. This anarchic method still allows
complex coordinated manoeuvres to be carried out because the crowd is united
by a regular internal stepping rhythm. Mobile samba bands work tightly with the
crowd to provide the necessary timekeeping drums. The polyrhythmic structure
of samba consists of many rhythms played by separate parts of the band and the
beat only emerges from the way these rhythms engage and communicate with
each other. Samba offers a concrete vision of the relationship between the individual and the group where the individual is not forced to compromise their
identity, but rather the collective only functions because of its internal counter-

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P ROT E S T TO O L S

90

points. Protest samba in particular emphasises this call and response relationship and externalises it to become an interaction between the drums and the
crowd who participate by shouting, cheering and whistling. Rather than functioning as listening music, this is a mobilising sound which aims for a functional hybrid between marshal drums and a participatory carnival.

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Community

Moving in unison inspires a sense of collectivism amongst all crowds. While the
military use this physical sensation of drill to establish hierarchical obedience,
for the protesters physical coordination is often the first collective experience
which sparks off further personal involvement. The contemporary sociologists
John Drury and Steve Reicher argue that protest crowds form through a simultaneous co-occurrence of social determination. Contrary to Le Bon, they argue
that the individual does not lose their identity in the crowd but actively gains a
common social identity with the group. In 1997 they interviewed a cross section
of protesters at the No M11 campaign and found that the people were split into
two groups. The first group had no previous experience of protests and thus
shared a general perception of the police as upholding their right to protest. The
second group with extensive experience of the police had no expectation of
police restraint. Based on post-event interviews, the researchers argue that participation in the protest caused a verifiable transformation in the novice group.
They suggest that this occurred through two mechanisms: firstly, by witnessing
police brutality, peoples illusions about the role of the police were dispelled, and
secondly, through acting oppositionally, protesters, to their own surprise, started
to perceive themselves as oppositional. Disguised by the language of sociology,

I went home to make a cup of tea and I was shaking. I mean, you dont expect [the
police to be violent], do you? But then you dont expect someone like me to be
someone who kicks fences, do you? But things change. Anon at the No M11
campaign

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P ROT E S T TO O L S

92

Marching aimlessly about on the drill field, swaggering in conformity with prescribed
military postures, conscious only of keeping in step so as to make the next move correctly and in time, somehow felt good. Words are inadequate to describe the emotion
aroused by the prolonged movement in unison that drilling involved. A sense of pervasive well-being is what I recall; more specifically, a strange sort of personal
enlargement; a sort of swelling out, becoming bigger than life, thanks to participation in collective ritual. William H.McNeill, 1995

the two researchers actually present an empowering vision of transformation

through physical participation. The implication is that emotional action prefigures a rationalisation of ones own position, and that by working closely with the
full range of people in the crowd, the individual has become more sympathetic
towards radical sentiments that they would have previously rejected.

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Mayday 2001, London

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We have been here for many hours now

and everybody is getting restless. Our
earlier attempts to push though the
police cordons had only resulted in
people being hit with riot batons. One
guy with a bleeding head-wound was not
even allowed to leave the cordon to get
medical attention.
Everybody is feeling seriously frustrated. Two people manage to shimmy up the
turn left sign and climb onto the low roof of the John Lewis shop. The crowd
respond by cheering and encouraging them on. They grab the CCTV camera
mounted on the side of the building and pull until it begins to give. It swings
loose, attached only by the mains electricity cable. They find a Stanley knife
lying on the roof and with one spark-filled cut yank the camera free. A huge sustained cheer reverberates throughout the whole street. The camera has been
turned on the police.

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Trashing

Mayday 2001, near Oxford Street.

A riot police officer stands helpless in
front of the 50,000 Jaguar he has
failed to protect from vandalism.

Today, disciplined property damage is considered a valid tactic by the pacifist

Swords to Ploughshares movement. In their most remarkable action, four women
managed to break into a British airforce base and attack a Hawk ground attack aircraft causing 1.6 million worth of damage in order to prevent it from being
exported to Indonesia, where it would have been used to continue the genocide
being committed in East Timor. The event generated a huge public outcry at the
British arms export policy which culminated not only in the policy being changed
but also in the womens actions being publicly vindicated. The Seattle anti-globalisation protests in 1999 highlighted a different kind of organised property damage. During the protests a number of Black Bloc groups strategically avoided confrontations with the police in order to concentrate purely on their real corporate
targets: GAP, Nike, Levis, McDonalds, Starbucks, Warner Bros etc.

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TRASHING

Property damage has always been a controversial aspect of protest as it has often
been perceived as the unwanted byproduct of democratic protest. Yet the systematic and principled tactic of property destruction has its own distinctive history. The Peasants Revolt in 1381 saw protesters attacking carefully selected
palaces and grand houses in order to methodically demolish them. Their aim was
to destroy oppressive property rather than to loot, so all that which could not be
smashed or burned was thrown into the river while the empty shells of the buildings were blown up. One account tells of a rioter being found by his comrades to
have kept a silver goblet for himself, and was subsequently killed for doing so.

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When we smash a window, we aim to destroy the thin veneer of legitimacy that surrounds private property rights. At the same time, we exorcise that set of violent and
destructive social relationships which has been imbued in almost everything around
us. We contend that property destruction is not a violent activity unless it destroys
lives or causes pain in the process. By this definition, private property especially
corporate private property is itself infinitely more violent than any action taken
against it. [...] By destroying private property, we convert its limited exchange value
into an expanded use value. A storefront window becomes a vent to let some fresh air
into the oppressive atmosphere of a retail outlet. ACME Collective, Seattle N30
Reaching up to grasp the golden arches feels strange. The yellow plastic is hollow and flimsy not like I had expected. The bottom of the M has been shaped
with just enough depth to get a proper handhold. I pull myself up and fold my
legs around the object. I am swinging free, suspended from the worlds most
famous brand. For one moment a corporate symbol solidified as a physical entity that could be grasped and ripped down. For a split second a solution appeared,
a direct way of dealing with the amorphous nature of global capital. Frustrated
at the lack of corporate accountability, these destructive tactics aim to create
economic pressure, but more importantly generate a sense of personal and public empowerment. Even these minor displays demonstrate the potential for real
transformation outside the narrow constraints of symbolic protest. Spaces,
property and institutions that previously seemed distant and inviolatable suddenly reveal their vulnerability. Even things written in stone can be transformed.
After N30, many people will never see a shop window or a hammer the same way
again. The potential uses of an entire cityscape have increased a thousand-fold..
ACME Collective, Seattle N30

Mayday 2001, London

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We have been trapped here for eight

hours and everybody is numb with the
cold and boredom. The police have
managed to frustrate and intimidate us
but they havent won.

By trapping us together they have forced the crowd to focus inwards and get us
to talk to each other. Looking round the street I see people huddled together in
little groups. These kind of temporary connections will remain as networks long
after we have left this street. Plans are already being made for the next protest
when they will bring their own camping gear so that when they get trapped
again they will be more comfortable than the police. Finally the police decide
to let us go in ones and twos, making us squeeze in between the their lines of
spotters. One woman waits patiently behind the police cordon giving out hot
tea to everybody. She had been watching us on the television all day and felt
sorry for us.

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Cracks

Over 150 years later the newly built Millennium Footbridge in London named
the Blade of Light has a strangely similar problem. As the public arrived on the
opening day and first walked across the bridge, it immediately reacted by swaying horizontally by up to 70mm. While the bridge designers maintained that
there was no danger of collapse, the discomfort caused by crossing the bridge
proved so severe that the structure had to be closed after only two days. While
neither as dramatic or destructive as the Broughton incident the same phenomena was at work. Every structure and object has a unique resonant frequency
also known as its natural frequency which is determined by its material, shape,
size and support. The impact of peoples feet produced rhythmic forces that happened to coincided with the structures own unique frequency, causing it to
react so intensely. The designers of the Millennium Footbridge had used statistical surveys and computer simulations to predict the speed and force of the
crowd and had built a considerable safety margin into their design. Their crucial
mistake was to misunderstand how people interact. Textbook studies and guidelines only ever consider very small numbers of pedestrians walking or running in
step. What occurred in reality, was that hundreds of people arrived at the newly

[The Millennium Footbridge] cost far more than a simple bridge crossing the Thames,
its a symbol, isnt it, not just a bridge; it symbolises London and the millennium and
ambition. Robert Benaim, engineer, 2000

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TRASHING

TRASHING

104

On April 14th 1831 the Sixtieth Rifle Corps was crossing the Broughton
Suspension Bridge near Manchester when suddenly an accident occurred. The
troops had been marching in unison following standard army procedure when
suddenly the bridge collapsed from underneath them. They had been oblivious
to the fact that their marching was causing the bridge to vibrate in a very exaggerated manner leading ultimately to its collapse. This incident gave rise to a
military order which remains even today: Break step to walk out of sync
when crossing bridges.

opened bridge in little groups. Within each friendship-group the people were
chatting with each other and so naturally walking in step with one another. This
communal walking created just enough vibration for the bridge to sway very
slightly. What the designers had not expected was that all the separate groups
found it most comfortable to coordinate with the main sway of the bridge creating one huge united group composed of hundreds of individuals. Incredibly,
this force of hundreds of simultaneous footfalls happened to coincide with the
natural resonant frequency of the bridge causing it to react so strongly. The
bridge builders made some futile suggestions designed to break up the crowd by
limiting the number of people allowed on the bridge or forcing them to undergo an obstacle course with bollards. Neither of these suggestions was going to
be able to control the raw force of the crowd so the bridge was quickly closed
and a major redesign started.

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TRASHING
Albert Bridge, London. After the
collapse of the Broughton Suspension
Bridge signs were erected at all
vibrationally vulnerable bridges. Albert
Bridge has a centre span of 55.5
metres which means its resonant
frequency matches exactly the average
walking frequency of 2Hz.

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Antimatriel Weapons

A small crack had appeared, a small chink had been exposed. The structural
engineers reacted quickly, trying to smooth-over and hide the fracture but their
secret was out. The achilles heel of structures had been revealed and suddenly
all monolithic symbols became potential targets. John Alexander, the father of
non-lethal weapons, first developed tools to disable structures before
redirecting his research towards the human body. Subsonic vibrations link
together the open spaces of buildings with the cavities of our bodies as well as
the speed of our movements. These vibrations offer a way to retrace Alexanders
steps and invert his fear weapons turning them into a crowd forming tool. A new
subtle form of communal property destruction had become viable where no
single individual could be held accountable for the effects caused by the
synchronised collective.

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A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

I read something and I couldnt believe it. I read a report that you could get
coordinated hooligan behaviour on the Millennium Bridge. They are worried that
people would actually go as a group and [] walk across in a specific way to cause
basic vibrations. [] That sort of thing has never been looked into in buildings. What
you look at is the function of the building and it is designed according to that. Office
buildings with large spans are never designed for coordinated walking. All
grandstand, all stadiums, all places of leisure where music activities take place are
designed in a way that can accommodate the crowd excitement. Kameran Etebar,
engineering lecturer

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Antimatriel Mobilisation System Version 1

A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

110

A bleak expanse of stone, concrete and aluminum around the recently built
riverside leisure development in Bristol became the target for our initial test. The
supposedly public space of the Millennium Square which was built to the same
dimensions as the underground car park just beneath its surface, seemed like a
fitting place to reintroduce the crowd.
The evening of the event turns out to be blustery and rainy, yet twenty to thirty
hardy people brave the weather to come out into the street and take their
whistles. A man with a megaphone appears and gives some general information to
the assembled group. He finishes by pressing a button on the megaphone he is
holding and immediately the crass distorted sound of the crowd bursts out of the
cone. The talking and laughing of the people mixes with the occasional shout. The
protest crowd moves closer and closer until the audio perspective shifts towards
the samba band whose drum sounds ricochet off inner-city walls. The amplified
noise echoes sharply across the huge empty expanse of the Bristol water front.
Suddenly the sound of all the whistles joins and the edge between the real and
recorded crowd blurs. Everybody moves towards Peros Footbridge and starts
jumping to the rhythm of the music, unaware that it has been modified to match
the resonant frequency of the bridge. There is a good atmosphere as people smile
enjoying their own physical exertion as well as the absurdity of the whole
spectacle. The bridge reacts slowly with dull thumps. Unfortunately the majority
of people are jumping ineffectively using alternate feet which dampens the full
force of their footfalls. Despite this, the bridge is vibrating laterally and swaying.
The jumping continues for a further five minutes until it is time to move off to the
second target, the silver dome of the Imaginarium. Moving closer the xenon
strobes can be seen flashing in the distance reflecting off the domes metallic

Millennium Square, Bristol. The

silver dome of the Imaginarium
became the second test target where
strobes were used to emphasise the
rhythm of the audio.

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surface. Once assembled in front of the flashing strobes the jumping continues
with more vigour until everybody is exhausted and the security guards arrive to
break up the event.
Conclusions

A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

112

While neither of the structures fully reacted or collapsed, the amount of

vibration generated was considerable. The pre-recorded protest audio proved to
be an efficient and evocative crowd trigger that synchronised the movement of
the people to the crucial frequencies. Unfortunately the use of a handheld
megaphone placed too much emphasis on the person with the device. The next
version of the tool should offer a more anonymous, atomised way of projecting
the audio. The most problematic issue was that the participants lacked any
common vision and participated through curiosity rather a common desire to
function together. It had been naive to assume that a proto-collective could be
formed without prior group planning and training. What was needed was a split
of the tool into two parts: training and operations.

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Antimatriel Mobilisation System Version 2

UAV protest object
Allows remote access of controlled space
Protester stand-in
Covert training mode
Spectacular collective function
Mobilises the vulgus

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A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

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Modular Components

Mini CD

Portable CD player

Whistles

1 Watt FM transmitter and

multiple radios

Megaphone

Helium Balloon

117

The CD at the back of this book

contains audio recordings taken from
the streets of London during the
Mayday 2001 protests. The recording
have been specially modified to
function as a calibration/training tool
as well as a crowd synchronisation
tool.

For personal training an innocuous

portable CD player is used to listen to
the mini CD on headphones. For
collective events the player is
connected to the FM
transmitter/megaphone system. A
repeat play facility allows the setting
of audio loops.
Note: Due to technical limitations of
the repeat play facility of most CD
players there is a slight delay on
looping an audio track. In order to
achieve perfect loops use a DJ CD
player or digitally transfer the audio
onto another medium that loops easily
(mindisk).

Distributing a large number of whistles

allows people to connect to the main
crowd rhythm creating density and
cross patterns.

A home-built or cheaply purchased FM

transmitter allows the audio to be
transmitted to a large number of
individual protest objects. In order to
tune the transmitter it should be
powered up without audio and left to
warm up before the individual radios
are tuned to the silent FM frequency.
Each radio requires an audio out
socket.

A 20 watt megaphone is used to

amplify the audio and to add a
particular urgency to the sound. A mini
jack input at the rear of the
megaphone allows audio from the
radio to be fed in.

A helium balloon is used to lift the

megaphone and radio allowing the
protest object to get stuck against the
high ceilings of the target structure.
These tall unreachable ceilings that are
used to project a sense of institutional
power also offer ample safety space
for the protest object. If the crowd
action should fail and the people are
evicted, AMS will remain on the ceiling
as a noisy, hard to remove thorn.
The size of the balloon is dictated by
the weight of its payload. 1 cubic
metre of helium can lift roughly 1 kg.
A 2 metre diameter helium balloon
should provide sufficient lift to carry
this kind of payload.

A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

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Instructions:
Individual Training

Voting tactically with your feet

119

The optimum way to jump is to concentrate on every muscle in the body,

particularly the bigger slower muscles around the hip, abdomen and thigh. The
actual movement is not so much a jump as a push into the ground. Jump up,
bend the knees and bring the feet up high. On the down movement bring the
heels down in line with the bodys centre of gravity. Both heels should impact
simultaneously with a short, jarring shock that sends pressure waves in all
directions.

Training Method

Event Preparation

The audio CD acts as a calibration tool that allows the resonant frequency of
structures to be determined. It consists of an introduction and ending
interspersed by five sets of loops pitched at ever increasing speeds/frequencies
covering the full range of human movement. By continually jumping at the
speed set by the audio tool and observing the structure, the amount of vibration
should increase as the speed approaches the resonant frequency. At this point
the track can be looped to maintain a constant speed and to increase the
vibration. When the natural frequency has been pinpointed, and if sufficient
force is applied, the material will react in a very distinctive way that can be
heard and/or felt. Inside structures the effect can manifest itself as an infrasonic

Whether they would actually be able to break the structure? They would have to get
lucky. You have to do a lot of research in getting the right frequency but I am sure if
they work it out they can do it. Kameran Etebar, engineering lecturer
In preparation for a larger, potentially more dangerous collective action it is
useful to be able to predict the resonant frequency remotely. Using floorplans
and some detailed knowledge of the structure, the resonant frequency can be
accurately calculated. Unfortunately the majority of our targets restrict access to
the structure as well as the floor plans, requiring us to use a simpler method. The
main factor determining the resonant frequency is the span of the structure
which can be judged from promotional photography material. The distance to

A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

118

The 1,000 people who have received this book and accompanying CD tool have
become part of an anonymous collective. Dispersed and unknown to each other
these individuals will start their own personal program of daily societal fitness
training. By using the audio CD with headphones the condensed protest crowd
can be smuggled into controlled spaces that have not been designed for the
crowd and where its presence would immediately be considered a threat.
Simulated crowd training/tests can now proceed in secret. The aim of the
training is dual, firstly a personal exploration to motivate and learn how to exert
the largest force possible and secondly to probe for weaknesses in structures.
The resulting resonant frequency data should be collected in order to prepare
for future crowd actions when the anonymous collective will recombine.

wind that can be felt on the skin. While the structural reaction will happen
suddenly, it will not lead to a structural collapse since the forces generated by a
single person are very small. Good structures to test the effect are metal
footbridges and staircases which vibrate easily. For larger structures a small but
highly coordinated group of people will have more success than an individual.

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gauge is the length between two supporting joists. Using the chart on the right
we can then read off an estimate of the natural frequency. The shaded area
between 1.8Hz and 3Hz indicates the range of sustainable human movement
from slow walking all the way up to frantic pogoing. If the structure falls within
this range then it is a possible target. The ideal target would have a span of over
25 metres and be constructed from low weight material with low dampening.
Perfect examples of this are bridges but also open plan offices, which are
particularly vulnerable due to their lack of partitions.

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A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

A N T I M AT R I E L W E A P O N S

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Collective Action
Music is not dangerous, its the people. Music can be as loud as you like, ok you get
blast effects but they cant be worse than explosions, and buildings are designed to
withstand explosions. No, its the actual effect that people would be able to cause.
Kameran Etebar, engineering lecturer
Brought together through the announcement of a crowd action, the anonymous
individuals gather and recombine into the physical collective. They have
brought with them the modular components needed to construct the protest
tools. Once assembled and deployed, everything is in place. With the audio
system stuck to the ceiling and safe from any ground level interference, there is
no more need for any leaders, organisers or martyrs. The objects become the
focus of the crowd, activating the latent adrenaline and reconstructing the
mobility of the vulgus. The amorphous notion of people power becomes a hyper
literal vision of kinesthetic force that empowers through concrete results. By
standing still an average person weighing around 65 kilograms exerts a force of
650 newtons straight down onto the floor.

The shaded area between 1.8Hz and

3Hz indicates the range of sustainable
human movement from slow walking
all the way up to frantic pogoing.

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Once mobilised into jumping with both feet that force is multiplied almost seven
times. If fifty people jump simultaneously, this force produces 23 tonnes of
pressure which is the same weight as thirty-three cars stacked one on top of the
other. With every drum beat, these tonnes of pressure piledrive into the ground
at the resonant frequency. Seeing, hearing or feeling even the slightest response
from the structure initiates a feedback loop between the building and its
occupants which increases the feeling of communal action. The amount of force
required to cause a full structural collapse is between ten to one hundred times
greater than that needed to see the first surface cracking. These warning signs are
sufficient for our purposes since they force the authorities to close down the
structure. Used in this way the tactic should pose no danger to anyone.

International Day of Protest, London

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People have been assembling in Liverpool

Street Station since noon. At 1 p.m.
thousands of masks of four different
colours are handed out to the different
sections of the crowd. On a coloured flag
signal each section leaves by a different
exit. Three groups head towards the Bank
of England in Threadneedle Street while
the other heads towards Aldgate. Arriving
in front of the concrete tower and bunker
of the stock exchange, there is some
hesitation. Two sets of rotating doors
designed to slow the flow of people
stand in the way.

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The red group finally arrives carrying all their equipment in rucksacks. Two
people push forward and activate the emergency mechanism on the rotating
door causing the wings to fold back. The crowd cheers and surges forward.
Entering the foyer resistance is minimal, the few security guards make only
symbolic attempts to stop the throng. The huge digital screen displaying todays
techMARK level at 3426.43 (down 24.11) is pushed over. The bunches of huge
red helium balloons have arrived and need to be carefully guided through the
foyer. The main crowd turns left through the doors down some stairs and into
the internal atrium of the old trading floor. Since 1986 the whole 23,000 square
feet area has been abandoned and used for storage. Devoid of shouting and
gesticulating it is only the tall ceilings and the corporate aluminium that remind
us of its former use. All trading is now performed electronically and traders use
a computer system called Market Sound to recreate the human buzz. This real
time audio system simulates a background throng of synthesised human voices
shouting buy or sell allowing the crowd behaviour of the market to be heard.
The protest crowd assembles carefully in the bear pit, packing in as tightly as
possible and releases the balloons. They float up lifting their payload to the
ceiling where they gently squash against the roof. The radios and megaphones
are all turned up to maximum volume but the radio transmitter is still projecting
silence. Small silver whistles are in hundreds of mouths, eyes gazing up to the
ceiling in anticipation. Set Play and Repeat. The CD laser glides over the pits and
troughs and all the megaphones scream simultaneously. Sharp hollow slap
drums, wide deep drums, hand rattles and wind noise, inner city echoes, screams
the crowd has connected. The collective moves as one. Simple jointed, the legs
pile-drive into the floor. Double heel impacts. People are watching their
surroundings in anticipation. When will it start to happen? My chest throbs as
the solid floor bulges up like an acid trip, ready to meet my next impact. The
ground appears to have changed state and becomes viscous with a hard

rebound. A strange tactile current seems to be pulsating in the room. The walls
boom, distorting the sound of feet landing. People are smiling at each other, the
walls are starting to react. Throbbing outside the limits of hearing infrasound is
being directed at the buildings vital frequency. The viscous silicon dampening at
the foundations designed to reduce wind sway is forced to exceed its design
specifications. The composite concrete and steel structure is locked in
vibrational unison with its occupants. Microscopic shearing, tiny fractures and
minute hairline cracks are appearing in the ceiling. Only superficial damage at
this stage. Skip to the next track, closer to the fundamental frequency and the
jumping becomes more frenzied. The whole city skyline pitches up as my head
momentarily stands still mid-jump.

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Mobile Vulgus CD

MOBILE VULGUS CD

128

Track Name
01. Intro
02. Loop A
03. Loop B
04. Loop C
05. Loop A
06. Loop B
07. Loop C
08. Loop A
09. Loop B
10. Loop C
11. Loop A
12. Loop B
13. Loop C
14. Loop A
15. Loop B
16. Loop C
17. Outro

Speed

Frequency

135 BPM
135 BPM
135 BPM
144 BPM
144 BPM
144 BPM
153 BPM
153 BPM
153 BPM
162 BPM
162 BPM
162 BPM
171 BPM
171 BPM
171 BPM

2.25Hz
2.25Hz
2.25Hz
2.40Hz
2.40Hz
2.40Hz
2.55Hz
2.55Hz
2.55Hz
2.70Hz
2.70Hz
2.70Hz
2.85HZ
2.85HZ
2.85HZ