From: "John Hurst", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>In the UK use of 'lethal force', in this case the .22
>rifle, against rioters would most likely be illegal
>except in the most extreme circumstances even if the
>intention was not to kill. Most police forces balk
>at deploying baton rounds and CS gas in the mainland
>UK in such circumstances (even at the Boardwater Farm
>riots).
Jerry,
I disagree. A riot is a situation where the common law duty to
prevent a breach of the peace applies. All law abiding individuals are
required to use their best efforts to supress a riot. The use of lethal
force is not excluded. That is because the life and limbs of the innocent
are not to be sacrificed to the lawless.
The Manual of Military Law and police instruction books, in older editions,
quote a stated case from 1914 to that effect. It suggests that private
individuals would be well advised to offer their services to the authorities
beforehand to avoid being mistaken for rioter <g>.
PS. We do not have riots in the legal sense very often. That is because the
police would be responsible financialy for damage caused if they lost, or
surrendered, control. Broadwater Farm was a failure of leadership, not an
example of the law being applied correctly. The guilty man was promoted a
short time later. Words fail me.
Regards, John Hurst.
--
I remember reading a riot control manual about ten years or
so ago and I recall that it said in extreme situations when
there was no alternative the identified leaders of the riot
should be shot. It was a military manual I think but I can't
recall the vintage.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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