Mass arrest
A mass arrest occurs when police apprehend large numbers of suspects at once. This sometimes occurs at protests. Some mass arrests are also used in an effort to combat gang activity.[1] This is sometimes controversial, and lawsuits sometimes result.[2] In police science, it is deemed to be good practice to plan for the identification of those arrested during mass arrests, since it is unlikely that the officers will remember everyone they arrested.[3]
Historical examples
[edit]The Japan Farmers' Union and Japanese labor-farmer groups were hit by mass arrests in the 1920s. On 16 April 1929, several thousand members of the farmers' movement were arrested.[4] Following World War II, mass arrests (over 120,000) of actual and suspected Quislings occurred in Norway.[5] Totalitarian regimes have sometimes conducted mass arrests as a prelude to a purge of perceived political enemies, sometimes through executions.
On 10 March 2010 a mass crackdown was initiated to thwart a planned peaceful 'million march' to be conducted in a South Indian state capital of Hyderabad demanding formation of a new federal unit, more than 100,000 Telangana people were taken in to custody by a police force controlled by the coastal 'andhra' elites.[6]
The 2010 G-20 Toronto summit was witness to the largest mass arrest in Canadian history of 900 people.[7]
Mass arrests of protesters in the United States
[edit]In December 1964, the University of California, Berkeley was disrupted by a mass student sit-in in the administration building and by mass arrests of 700 students.[8]
Beginning on 3 May 1971, three days into the 1971 May Day Protests – a series of large-scale civil disobedience actions in Washington, D.C. – massive arrest sweeps begin. In a few days over 12,000 are arrested – the largest mass arrest in U.S. history.[9][10]
Former American President Jimmy Carter said in regards to the racial conflicts of the time, "I would be opposed to mass arrest, and I would be opposed to preventive detention. But I think that the abuses in the past have in many cases exacerbated the disharmonies that brought about demonstrations, and I think that arrest of large numbers of people without warrants ... is a contrary to our best systems of justice."[11]
On 15 September 1996, 1,033 peaceful protesters were arrested in Carlotta, CA at a rally to end the clearcutting of ancient redwood forests.
A famous mass arrest occurred on 27 September 2002, in Washington, DC in which several hundred anti-World Bank/International Monetary Fund protestors, journalists and bystanders were systematically arrested by police[12][13] and charged with failure to obey a police order.[14] A class action lawsuit against the government ensued.[15] Pre-emptive mass arrests have also sometimes been criticized.[16]
Over 1,700 protesters were arrested during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City.[17]
On 1 October 2011, more than 700 protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement were arrested while attempting to march across the bridge on the roadway.[18]
On 28 January 2012, also as part of the Occupy movement, more than 400 people were arrested in Oakland, CA.
During a seven-day span on Capitol Hill, from 11 April through 18 April 2016, police arrested approximately 1,240 people (300 arrests were made on 18 April alone) who were demonstrating for reforms to how Americans vote and campaign in elections.[19]
On 6 January 2021, 53 activists, former legislators, social workers and academics were arrested by the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force under the national security law over their organisation and participation in the primaries for the subsequently postponed Legislative Council election, including six organisers and 48 participants, of which two were arrested in jail, making it the largest crackdown under the national security law since its passage on 30 June 2020. Authorities also raided 72 sites including the home of jailed activist Joshua Wong, the offices of news outlets Apple Daily, Stand News and Hong Kong Inmedia; and polling institute Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), and froze more than $200,000 in funds related to the primaries.[20] The arrests reduced the pro-democracy camp, including its moderate wing, considerably, and targeted several prominent figures.[21] These have been characterized as mass arrests.[22][23]
War crime
[edit]Indiscriminate mass arrests were designated a war crime in 1944 by a commission on war crimes created by the London International Assembly. That was one of two items added by that Commission to the list of war crimes that had been drawn up by the Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties in 1919. Specifically, "indiscriminate mass arrests for the purpose of terrorizing the population" were designated as war crimes by the commission.[24]
At the Netherlands temporary court martial in 1947, several members of the tokkeitai in the Netherlands East Indies were accused of the war crime of indiscriminate mass arrests. The applicable legislation, used by the court, was the NEI Statute Book Decree #44 of 1946, whose definition of war crimes paralleled the commission's list. Specifically, item #34 of the enumerated list of war crimes under the NEI legislation was "indiscriminate mass arrests for the purpose of terrorising the population, whether described as taking hostages or not". The court understood the definition of such unlawful mass arrests to be as "arrests of groups of persons firstly on the ground of wild rumours and suppositions, and secondly without definite facts and indications being present with regard to each person which would justify his arrest". It added commentary on indiscriminate mass arrests that are for the purpose of terrorizing the populace by stating that they "contained the elements of systematic terrorism for nobody, even the most innocent, was any longer certain of his liberty, and a person once arrested, even if absolutely innocent, could no longer be sure of health and life".[25]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Lee, Trymaine (24 June 2007), "Mass Arrest of Brooklyn Youths Spotlights Tactics", The New York Times, archived from the original on 11 November 2017, retrieved 22 February 2017
- ↑ Fenton, Justin (23 June 2010), "City poised to approve 'mass arrest' settlement with NAACP, ACLU", The Baltimore Sun, archived from the original on 10 October 2017
- ↑ Richard L. Holcomb (December 1964), The Police Role in Racial Conflicts by Juby E. Towler, vol. 55, The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, p. 540, JSTOR 1140912
- ↑ Seiyei Wakukawa (13 February 1946), "Japanese Tenant Movements", Far Eastern Survey, 15 (3): 40–44, doi:10.2307/3022364, JSTOR 3022364
- ↑ Amry Vandenbosch (November 1952), The Purge of Dutch Quislings; Emergency Justice in the Netherlands. by Henry L. Mason, vol. 14, The Journal of Politics, pp. 751–752, JSTOR 2126459
- ↑ "Mass arrests before India rally". BBC News. 10 March 2011. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ↑ Jill Mahoney & Ann Hui (29 June 2010). "G20-related mass arrests unique in Canadian history". The Globe and Mail. theglobeandmail.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ↑ Nathan Glazer (25 March 1967), "Student Protest in the U S", Economic and Political Weekly, 2 (12): 601–605, JSTOR 4357739
- ↑ "Top News, Latest headlines, Latest News, World News & U.S News - UPI.com". UPI. Archived from the original on 3 May 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
- ↑ 1971 Year in Review Archived United Press International 2009-05-05.
- ↑ Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Jimmy Carter, 1977, Book 1: 20 January to 24 June 1977, p. 346
- ↑ Rachel Coen (November–December 2002), Another Day, Another Mass Arrest, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, archived from the original on 23 July 2010, retrieved 24 July 2010
- ↑ Activists Decry Police Intimidation in Anti-Globalization Protests, Agence France Presse, 1 October 2002, archived from the original on 7 October 2012, retrieved 24 July 2010
- ↑ Final Report Relative to Complaints of Alleged Misconduct Made at the October 24, 2002, Hearing of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Council of the District of Columbia Concerning the IMF/World Bank Protest, archived from the original on 6 October 2010
- ↑ "Barham Settlement". Archived from the original on 18 June 2010.
- ↑ "Leading article: Mass arrests have no place in a democratic country", The Independent, 14 April 2009, archived from the original on 18 April 2009, retrieved 4 September 2017
- ↑ Jarrett Murphy (3 September 2004). "A Raw Deal For RNC Protesters?". CBS News. Archived from the original on 8 December 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ↑ Baker, Al; Moynihan, Colin; Nir, Sarah Maslin (1 October 2011). "Police Arrest More Than 700 Protesters on Brooklyn Bridge". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ↑ Marcos, Cristina (18 April 2016). "Capitol Hill arrests in pro-democracy protest hit 1,240". The Hill. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ↑ Wang, Vivian; Ramzy, Austin; May, Tiffany (5 January 2021). "Hong Kong Police Arrest Dozens of Pro-Democracy Leaders". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ↑ Zhou, Viola (6 January 2021). "Hong Kong Has Arrested Almost Everyone in the Political Opposition". Vice. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ↑ Lau, Jessie (6 January 2021). "Hong Kong Police Arrest 53 Pro-Democrats on Subversion Charges". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ↑ "35＋大搜捕｜羅冠聰、許智峯、張崑陽：港史上最大規模打壓 各國應採實際行動回應". 明報新聞網 – 即時新聞 instant news (in Traditional Chinese). Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ↑ Lyal S. Sunga (1992). Individual responsibility in international law for serious human rights violations. International studies in human rights. Vol. 21. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 25–26. ISBN 978-0-7923-1453-0.
- ↑ United Nations War Crimes Commission (1997). "Trial of Shigeki Motomura and 15 others". Law reports of trials of war criminals. Vol. 1–5. Wm S. Hein Publishing. pp. 138–145. ISBN 978-1-57588-403-5.