How to deal with Flash Mobs

FerFAL,
I thought you might be interested in this.  The poor youth are now starting to form mobs intent on looting and hurting others in the US.  Of particular worry are the racial undertones, especially for those of us living in more racially diverse locations.  I am afraid this sort of thing will continue to spread as the economy worsens.  Three such stories are reported below.
One in Peoria, IL
http://peoriachronicle.com/2011/06/25/peorians-living-in-fear/
and two in Philadelphia, PA

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/124580568.html?cmpid=15585797
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=8217562
Thanks for all you do to get the word out about rational, realistic personal preparation.
No need to reply personally.

Jonathan


Good articles Jonathan, thanks for your email.

You’re starting to see something similar to what we’ve seen a lot of here and still live with. While not as dangerous as other criminal activities, it can be dangerous and does degrade considerably your life quality.
Mobs, rioting and roadblocks is something I’ve been through before more times than I can remember and can give some advice on how to deal with them.

The two most common rules, the ones that people that get hurt or killed by them fail to remember are 1) Don’t get involved with them! 2) Get away from them as fast as possible.

Make your voice heard in another context. When things are getting out of control and surrounded by a mob that is not the time for political or ethical debate. One word is enough to get physically attacked by another person, and one punch is all it takes for the dozen sheep around the pack leader to strike as well from anonymity. Keep your mouth shut, look around you for evacuation points and walk quickly in that direction. Of course knowing your surroundings well means you’re less likely to get boxed in in a dead end street or corridor.

Sometimes the most direct way out of the mess isn’t the best way. Lets say there’s protesting in Casa Rosada in The capital district of Buenos Aires. While Av. De Mayo may be the fastest, direct way, other groups may be using that street to get to the main concentration so I might be better off going through one of the lateral streets. Then again if police are already in such main avenue that may be my safest way out because rioters or mobsters may be hanging around in the lateral streets looking for easy victims, while the police concentrates its efforts keeping things calm in the main avenue. No easy answer and it´s up to you to tell what situation you’re dealing with on a per case basis.

Another piece of advice, 3) Don’t go down to the floor. This is where street fights go separate ways with sporting fights. It doesn’t matter if you’re the current MMA heavyweight champ, if you go down and get surrounded by a mob, the risk of getting stomped and kicked to death goes up exponentially. Just don’t go to the floor willingly and do everything you can to stay on your feet. If grabbed and such, throw a punch or two while retreating but don’t engage and always move away from them.

In your Car

In similar ways you should handle the situation from within a vehicle. Keep moving slowly, don’t lose your nerve, even if they start hitting your car and insulting. This actually happened to me and keeping a straight face looking straight ahead, not saying a word while I kept driving slowly is by far your best bet to get out of there unharmed.
“Hey FerFAL, that BS, just floor the accelerator and get out of there ASAP!”
We’ve actually had this happen as well with people that suffered nervous breakdowns during roadblocks, piquetes and other protests. First of all you’d be seriously injuring or killing the people instead of just pushing them away, this will later be hard to explain in front of a jury. Maybe you’re getting attacked by the mob, but in the middle of such a mess the kid you end up killing was a straight A student that happened to be following the pack. Running over a mob will more than likely land you in jail, while driving slowly through it still gets you out.

Of course I’m talking of cases where you’re already surrounded by the mob and they are being hostile towards you! If that not the case just hit reverse and get the hell out of there! Don’t drive through it! Another important point to consider is that sedans are not intended to run over people. Without getting into gruesome details there’s been cases where someone lost it and ran over the mob, only to end up with the car stuck on people, chairs, other elements or crashing against structures. If you just ran over a bunch of protesters and your car gets stuck you will most likely get beaten by the mob. Unless you’re getting shot at, the glasses being broken or otherwise seriously attacked and you can prove a fear of death in front of a jury, do NOT accelerate through a crowd. Move slowly though it instead.

These are a few tip to keep in mind if you ever find yourself in such a situation.
Is my advice relevant to these flash mobs you’re seeing over in USA?
This is a quote from the US “flash mob” links above:

“We were walking down the street then, out of nowhere, there’s a hundred kids,” said Rajiv Sainath. He and a group of friends were on Green Street near Broad when they were engulfed by the mob.
“By bad luck the head of our group and the head of the mob reached the corner of Broad and Green at the same exact time,” said Sainath.
He said some girls in the mob yelled at them to run away and some of Sainath’s group did just that. He was among those who didn’t.
Now, Sainath has a sneaker imprint on his forehead and numerous cuts and bruises.
“We tried to get away but kids would grab our shirts and starting hitting us in the back of the head, in the side of the head,” Sainath said.”

Take care folks,

FerFAL
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