There have been a few scattered quiet anti-war protests around town today. Mostly, it appears to be people bussed in from Arcata standing around with posters on the sidewalk. That’s fine - last I looked, people have a right to assemble.
However, some of them decide it’s time to try and block access to a building. So far today, they’ve attempted to blockade the Federal Reserve Bank and a federal office building. A popular tactic is to chain themselves together and sit on the ground in front of the doors.
Over the years, they’ve learned that chains are no match for bolt cutters. So, they escalate the strength of their human chain by stuffing their arms inside steel pipes to discourage the cops from using boltcutters. All that happens is the fire department breaks out the Sawzall and chops them apart in moments.
What is their exit strategy if they’re not forcibly separated? Beg for someone to cut them apart? AFAIK, they’re using handcuffs inside the pipes, so they really do appear to need some external use of force to be separated at the end of the day.
They probably use the sex-shop (or toy) style handcuffs, which have a little release built into the cheek plate (the bit with the ratchet inside) that you can operate using the cuffed hand.
They are idiots, and are probably hoping to get their arms broken.
Protesting the war and the evil Government of Bush in SF is like trying to talk up the Mormon Faith in Salt Lake City.
They are well aware of the fact that their illegal actions will lead to them getting arrested, and thus seperated. I would love to see a police force move the group, and then leave them handcuffed. That would be awesome.
Same here, but I’d rather see them be completely ignored. Sooner or later, one of them will need to go to the bathroom. :smack:
**Really ** - I hadn’t thought about toy handcuffs. FWIW, a lot of the sex shops around here sell real cuffs, so it’s easier to buy a pair of genuine Smith & Wesson cuffs than it is to find the fake ones.
I’m beginning to think these people are underwritten by the other side to make opposing the stupid war look stupid.
OK, DC is the place to protest; I get that. However, don’t any of these people do their homework? Blocking commuters here is friendly fire. Most people here, save for interlopers, oppose the stupid war. So fine, you retarded hippies, block your own silly butts from coming here and leave us the heck alone.
The two rather vague questions in the last paragraph (which make up less than half of it) do not appear to me ones that anyone posting here is likely to have an actual factual answer to. Instead, the responses so far have consisted mainly of opprobrium towards the protesters plus some unsupported speculation regarding the questions. This is not likely to be a particularly productive thread in terms of ratio of facts to BS, unless one of the protesters themselves happens to be posting here.
Should the OP wish to rephrase the question so it is somewhat clearer, another thread could be reopened in GQ and I will lock this one.
If you wish to further discuss my moving it in the first place, you are welcome to do so in the Pit.
To answer your question, they’re not handcuffed inside there. They have a chain wrapped around their wrists, with a carabiner to keep the chain closed and attached to the other person. You can open a carabiner with one hand and let yourself out.