Riot control
Riot control comprises the methods and operations authorities use to contain or disperse crowds engaged in riots and restore public order.
Crowd psychology: The study of how people perceive, feel, and act in crowds. Crowd behavior shapes how control tactics affect escalation, cohesion, and dispersal.
Public order policing: Policing aimed at maintaining public order during gatherings, demonstrations, and disturbances. Riot control is one part of the broader work of managing public gatherings.
Civil disobedience: The deliberate breach of a law to oppose it publicly and nonviolently. It may involve unlawful conduct without the violence that defines a riot.
Freedom of assembly: The right to gather peacefully for shared expression, advocacy, or other purposes. Crowd-control measures can restrict this right even when maintaining public order is legitimate.
Use of force: The application of physical power or coercion by authorities or other actors. Riot control depends on rules governing when and how authorities may apply force.
Rules for the Use of Force by Law Enforcement Officials: A 1990 United Nations instrument setting principles for law enforcement officers’ use of force and firearms. Its principles frame the necessity and proportionality of force during public-order operations.
Nonviolent resistance: Collective action that contests authority or policy without using physical violence. Its methods and aims differ from the violent disorder riot control addresses.
Human rights: Fundamental rights and freedoms considered inherent to every person. International human-rights standards constrain how authorities manage public disturbances.
Less-lethal weapon: A weapon designed to reduce the likelihood of causing death or serious injury, without eliminating that risk. These weapons are used to disperse or restrain crowds while carrying significant injury risks.
First aid: Immediate assistance given to an injured or ill person before professional medical care is available. Prompt care can limit harm from weapons, crowd crush, and other riot-related injuries.