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Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture
Improvised Projectile Weapons Footage

Hi All,

Footage of a recent event in Dublin.

WARNING: Bad language and real violence throughout.

Observations and Thoughts:

1) The guy at the start has some impressive kicking skills, but I think we’d agree this is not an environment for such methods.

2) We see improvised weapons throughout. Chairs, glasses and bottles are used as projectile weapons. This an aspect frequently overlooked in self-protection training (both use and avoidance). The chair missed – full credit to the kicker for his Matrix-like body shift – but it was thrown with considerable force and could have done a fair bit of damage had it hit anyone (third parties included). One of the men in black (assumed bar staff) takes the bottle in the side of the head and disengages. The bottle is also used more than once.

3) At 9 seconds you can see one of the staff effectively use a chair as a shield against an unidentified thrown object (pulled out of the garbage by the person all in grey).

4) As mentioned in Point 2, at 49 seconds the thrown bottle lands at the feet of one of the staff members. He quite rightly keeps his focus on the group (tunnel vision in effect?), but the fact the bottle remains in place gives one of the group the opportunity to pick it up and use it again to injure one of his colleagues. That said, the fact people are drinking outside gives a wide range of improvised projectile weapons to pick up and use.  

5) There are many people watching and one can be heard to say, “call the Garda” (police) and another saying “they are on their way”, but most watch on. I can also imagine how many different versions of this event will be reported to police afterwards. Especially when people are drinking and because it takes place on a junction of a street and therefore not all will have seen the full thing. While it’s unclear what this event was all about, I think it’s a fair assumption the staff of one venue are acting to deal with potentially unruly customers / potential customers? However, it seems it degenerated into a “gang fight” up the street from the venue, and both parties could theoretically find themselves on the wrong side of the law, had it not been filmed, and if the perception from another vantage point was the staff were pursuing the group (which would no doubt be their story). You can see one staff member try to encourage his colleagues to disengage (26 seconds).

6) At 1:05 one of the staff gets grabbed, and just two second later he’s getting hit by the entire gang. Thankfully, they are not armed at this point and the blows are ineffective. It could have ended very differently through, and it shows how quickly things can go south when grappling begins and when third parties are involved. Some of them fall to the floor, but it seems the intervention of others allows all involved to quickly regain their feet (view partially obscured).

7) The staff retreat when safe, and it seems other members of the public encourage the group to move on.  

8) I also think it’s a fair assumption that alcohol is playing a major part in this too.

I’m always a little wary that posts like these can become “Monday morning quarterbacking” while we all calmly state what “should” have happened from the comfort of our electronic devices. Always very different when you’re in the middle of it. However, they can also be good case studies in some instances. For this one, I think the use of projectile weapons is worthy of note. As is the use of improvised weapons to protect from them (chair as a shield). This is also yet another illustration that grappling is to be avoided, if possible, outside of the one-on-one consensual context.

All the best,

Iain

PASmith
PASmith's picture

I know I shouldn't be at this stage in life but I'm always a little bit shocked by the utter cowardice and craven mob-handing like this. The staff were 2 against 4 (or more?) and yet the scum still hung back and backed off until they got the "courage" to jump in when the staff were already engaged. These are the people we unfortunately share the world with.

It's only a matter of time before the little sh*te slinging bottles around and using them as weapons seriously hurts someone. He probably already has as he's clearly no stranger to extreme casual violence. He was clearly having the time of his life too. Some of those attacks could have very easily been ABH, GBH or even death.

Tau
Tau's picture

It is my oppinion that projectile weapons are possibly the most underated and untrained-for threat in modern self protection. When we come to talk about defence from corrosive substances the advice as I see it is all about first aid which isn't particularly helpful in defence. I don't have the answers aside from common-sense proactive stuff like avoiding the situation, not being the kind of person that someone wants to hurl acid at and so on.

Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture

Another thing is video really shows is that in engagements like this in particular, long range footwork actually comes into play. Not at all the way it does in one on one consensual stuff (I mean, would we consider this consensual or not, i'd almost vote yes, but then it approaches something else) of course, but the same physics are certainly there. The chairs definitely could have done much worse damage if things had gone differently.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

HI Zach,

Zach Zinn wrote:
Another thing is video really shows is that in engagements like this in particular, long range footwork actually comes into play. Not at all the way it does in one on one consensual stuff (I mean, would we consider this consensual or not, i'd almost vote yes, but then it approaches something else) of course, but the same physics are certainly there.

This seems to become something of consensual group fight i.e. two groups, squared off and maintaining a distance. However, that said, I do think that footwork associated with one-on-one consensual fighting has some crossover – with obvious tactical adjustments – in groups situations due to the need to stay as mobile as possible while being able to strike in order to maintain distance and facilitate escape. As you say, the same physics are there in both contexts.

All the best,

Iain