After seeing what happened in Oakland, CA. I worry for the peoples safety at OWSNashville. So I am putting together a quick reference guide for you all to check out and read. This is how to survive a riot and close encounters with the Nashville PD.
This document is straight from
http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Riot Occupy Nashville
DOES NOT Support
RIOTING and any illegal actions that may harm or put someones lives at risk.
This information is here simply to help if something does happen.We do not take any responsibility for how you use this information or how other members act.
Step 1- Wear dark clothes that minimize the amount of exposed skin (long pants and long-sleeved shirts) when going out. Do not wear clothing that could be interpreted as military or police wear in any way; avoid wearing anything that looks like a uniform.
- Carry toothpaste with you. Smear it under your eyes if tear gas is released and you have nothing else available to protect you.
- Think about your possible escape routes and safe havens before anything actually happens. Crossroads are the best because you've got at least one road to race off down if rioters go crazy or the police start charging.
- Take your telephone, two if possible (one in your pocket and one in a bag). If one is lost or taken, you still have another one.
Step 2Riots bring intense emotions boiling to the surface, but if you want to survive one you'd be better off keeping your own emotions in check. Your adrenaline and survival instincts will kick in, but strive to think rationally and pursue safety methodically.
- Have sugar candies on hand. Adrenalin will drain you of energy quickly and a sugar hit will help you move out faster.
- Avoid confrontation by keeping your head down.
Step 3Stay on the sidelines
If you're caught up in a riot, don't take sides. Try to look as inconspicuous as possible, and slowly and carefully move to the outside of the mob. Stay close to walls or other protective barriers if possible but try to avoid bottlenecks. These are areas where the crowd can be squashed into a tight place, such as tunnels, pillars, high fences and walls that go on for a long way.
Step 4If you're caught up in a car, stay calm. Remain inside the car unless your car becomes a focus for the riot, in which case it risks being torched, smashed or rolled over. Calmly and swiftly leave it behind and get to safety if that happens.
- If you have no alternative but to drive, keep to streets away from the rioting. Avoid all main routes and keep alert for news of where people are.
- Don't stop your car. If you're lucky enough to have a car that you can drive away from the riot, drive quickly and try not to stop for anything until you've reached someplace you know is safe. If people seem to block your escape route; honk your horn, and carefully drive through or around them at a moderate speed, and they should get out of the way.
- Driving towards police lines can be interpreted by the police as a preparation to use the car as a weapon against them. Police are trained and prepared to protect themselves against deadly threats meaning that you may be shot at if they think you are going to run them down with a car.
- Activists' fear of cars can be a reality as there have been numerous cases of irate non-participants running down protesters. Any pushing though the crowd should be done with the demeanor of patience, aggression may lead to an attempt to disable your car before it is used as a weapon.
Step 5Use the social media to alert you as to where to stay away from. Just as the rioters have started using social media and texting to alert one another where to go, you can flip this on its head and ask people to help you know where to stay away from. Messages informing you of which streets and areas are currently being targeted provide you with instantaneous warnings of where to avoid.
text "nashville" (no quotes) to 443322 for updates on the PlazaStep 6Avoid being hit by riot control chemicals or weapons. Police may deploy riot control agents (tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets, for example) to disperse a crowd. These weapons and chemicals can cause severe pain, respiratory distress, and blindness. Try to stay away from the front lines of a riot, and learn to recognize the signs that a riot control agent has been used and how to handle exposure.
- Avoid wearing oil based moisturizer or sunscreen as chemicals cling to these on your skin. Remove with detergent-free soap before going near the riot.
- Wear glasses rather than contact lenses; tear gas behind contact lenses is unimaginable pain. Swimming goggles can protect eyes, or a gas mask.
- Put wet bandannas in a plastic bag and carry these for your mouth. Wrap them around your mouth if tear gas is released. They need constant replacement as they will keep soaking up the gas.
- Wear vinyl or latex gloves to protect your hands from pepper spray; the nerve endings will make them feel like agony if sprayed.
- Avoid rubbing your hands or fingers into eyes, nose, mouth etc. after a chemical attack. Stay calm.
- Never hang around when bullets, gas and cannons are being deployed. These riot control agents can kill if they hit you in the wrong way and even if they don't, they can maim and hurt you horrendously. If you're so hurt that you fall down and cannot get up again, you also risk being trampled by the fleeing and terrified crowd.
Step 7- Get to a safe place, and stay put. Choose a safe haven carefully. Sometimes it can be as close as your hotel room