There are great differences between the US and European police forces of course and both deal with different issues. The story I'm about to describe I'm telling because I would like to tell our community overseas what European police sometimes have to deal with (because I have never heard a similair case from the US) and also because it is both a tale that send me shivering and appreciating the police a lot more. Aside from having some incredibly awesome heroics.

For any Dutch readers, you know the story about Hoek van Holland but I've gotten additional info from a friend who works on the Amsterdam division.

Last summer news came in that there were major riots during a beach-party. Shots had been fired and the first handheld movies just showed a lot of people running and the continuous chanting of a loud "Rotterdam Hooligans".

News came in slowly but apparantly one person died, there were a lot of wounded and eventually it was reported that the police had fired the shots. Now what happened was that the police were informed the day before that a large group of hooligans would attend this beachparty to cause trouble. The police didn't to anything with this warning. On the night of the party the hooligans started to test the police. They would start small fights to see how fast their reaction was. Officers of the special football-unit were present in civilian uniforms. 12 men total but they were recognized by an older hardcore hooligan and told "they'd best leave the beach because they were with too few men". At this moment the hooligans decided that it was time to turn on the police while they were breaking up another fight.

Hundreds of hooligans formed one giant mob against the 12 recognized officers. They banded together, back to back and retreated slowly while the mob closed in on them, throwing everything from bottles to benches and fences. The police fired warning shots continously but the mob was unimpressed and charged onward. One of the testimonies of the police officers read: "A woman came to me, begging me for help. She pulled on me but I told her I couldn't help her. I'd be dead if I left the group so I pushed her aside. She threw herself at me again begging for help but I pushed her again. When she came to me a third time I knocked her out. There was really nothing I could do"

The officers retreated for 200 metres and eventually made their stand-off on top of a dune where they were surrounded by the hooligans. At this moment 5 of the twelve officers decided to fire aimed shots at the legs. Warning shots had no effect as the mob tried to climb up that dune. The officers aimed at the legs though, but a 19 year old boy was hit on the top of his skull when he grabbed something down to throw. One of the officers recanted: "The mob picked up the body of the boy, and threw it at our feet, screaming for our blood".

At this moment, seven policemen on horses had arrived, discussing the strategy. Over the portofoon they heard their collegues demanding assistence. They galloped around the domain where they arrived at the back of the dune. At this moment they got out both nightstick and weapon and while riding on knees only charged into the mob. Let me recite that again - 7 men galloped on horses double wielding arms into a group of a few hundred hooligans. That is medieval. They managed to release their 12 collegues and whiped the whole beach clean. 7 Men! Only one was wounded in the end and the 5 that remain (one had to bring his collegues back to first aid) managed to restore order.

45 Active hooligans are still in jail, and no action is taken against the officers, thank god. Dutch officers usually get reported for even drawing their gun. Shooting, wether it is warning shots or not are still reported on the national news so you can imagine the effect of something like this. It must have been hell for the 12 officers surrounded on all sides and I would still be having nightmares if I'd be in their place. I can only commend them, firing numerous rounds whith dozens of aimed shots and only killing one person unintentionally.

I don't know if any of you have read it, wether you can recall some amazing police stand-offs or actions(Zexen might have some on police-actions in the slums in Brazilië) or have them yourself - (Lewis?). I just wanted to type this out because damn... it just makes for one awesome story.

Epic. Sounds like 300......

I'm not sure why Zexen would have info of police actions in the slums of Brazil. But he may know something of them in Argentinia

dsister44 said: I'm not sure why Zexen would have info of police actions in the slums of Brazil. But he may know something of them in Argentinia

Damn, thought he was the one from Brazil... A well, Argentina probably has the same problems to some extent, as do the French Police officers in the banliue's but I don't know any board-members from French.

holy crap!

Soooo.... the police were wrong?

Or was it the hooligans?

Were the police in any real immediate danger though?

I live in Madison, WI where we had our yearly riots on Halloween. The riot police would simply come in and toss the teargas, and that ended the riots quite quickly. It's amazing to watch how quickly a riot cop can take down someone who gets too close. :)

After the riot an independant research was commisioned. It concluded that the mayor who is also the head of police was to blame, as were the directors of police. Both did nothing with the prior warnings given, and the mayor should've cancelled the party when it was known that security would be lacking.

Of course, the hooligans will be the ones punished for actually starting the riots. Though one of the directors has stated that he will resign because of his blame.

@ Sorcery.

Usually the riot police here can quickly disperse a crowd as well - lot's of training during footie matches of course. They shoul have been present at the party but weren't for previously stated reasons so that is where it went wrong.

I don't think we have situations like this in the US because "hooligans" in the US know that the police would fire back.

We still have riots and such... but that is particularly bad... just shows a complete disrespect for the police.

A lot of people in the US don't like the police, don't respect them as people, but they do generally respect that as a force of order... whether they see that order as fair or not.

Esmoreit said: dsister44 said: I'm not sure why Zexen would have info of police actions in the slums of Brazil. But he may know something of them in Argentinia Damn, thought he was the one from Brazil... A well, Argentina probably has the same problems to some extent, as do the French Police officers in the banliue's but I don't know any board-members from French.

I am from Brazil.

And I can say we have it much worse here (more specifically - Rio de Janeiro). In here, the police cant go into the slums unless they plan ahead and send a massive force with a lot of firepower. The drug dealers rule the slums. They are the law around there. They wouldnt fight bare-handed or throw rocks. They would have military-grade weaponry (they took out a police chopper once :0)

However, recently (about a year ago) the government decided to have certain slums to be literally taken over by the police. They planned for  weeks, brought a lot of officers and firepower and drove the dealers away and kept a strong force in there to keep them away and keep the peace.

They have done this in a few places now and it seems to have worked (though some people protest such a heavy police force there since it means cops searching people and asking questions - people feel like they lost part of their freedom - i disagree since before they were much worse).