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Stone throwing

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For the competition sport, see Stone put. For the execution method, see Stoning and Rajm.

Palestinian stone-throwers in Bil'in

Stone throwing or rock throwing, when it is directed at another person (called stone pelting in India), is often considered a form of criminal battery. In certain political contexts, stone-throwing is considered a form of civil resistance.[1][2]

History

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David and Goliath (1888) by Osmar Schindler

The throwing of rocks or stones is one of the most ancient forms of ranged-weapon combat, with stone-throwing slings found among other weapons in the tomb of Tutankhamen, who died about 1325 BC.[3]

Xenophon mentions the petrobóloi (Ancient Greek: πετροβόλοι) in his work Hellenica,[4] and Thucydides and Cassius Dio both mention the lithobóloi (Ancient Greek: λιθοβόλοι) in History of the Peloponnesian War and Histories respectively.[5][6] Both terms mean stone-throwers in Ancient Greek, as army units.[7]

De re militari (Latin "Concerning Military Matters") by the Roman writer Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus details Roman soldiers training to throw stones as weapons. "Recruits are to be taught the art of throwing stones both with the hand and sling." And "Formerly all soldiers were trained to the practice of throwing stones of a pound weight with the hand, as this was thought a readier method since it did not require a sling."[8]

Goguryeo held an annual national seokjeon (stone battle) attended by the king himself.[9] Originally a product of the warlike Goguryeo period, seokjeon gradually evolved into a widely enjoyed pastime during the more peaceful Goryeo and Joseon periods.[10]

Historically, stoning was used as a method of human execution in several cultures.

In the 18th century, William Blackstone stated that throwing stones in a town or city on a highway, when it caused a death, was to be defined as manslaughter rather than murder.[11][12]

In the 19th century, "stone throwing" was defined as a "nuisance", one of a number of offenses such as "kite-flying" and "doorbell ringing" to be handled by bylaws which differed from town to town.[13]

Laws

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Rock throwing during riots is a criminal offense, for which rock throwers can be charged with felony crimes, including assault on a law enforcement officer.[14][15][16][17] Incidents of criminal rock throwing have resulted in arrests during sports riots; especially notable are incidents of rock-throwing football hooliganism.[18]

Australia

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In New South Wales, Section 49A of the Crimes Act 1900 provides a maximum 5-year prison sentence for "throwing rocks and other objects at vehicles and vessels".[19]

India

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See also: Stone pelting in Kashmir

Throwing of stones at Indian Armed Forces and Police is frequent in Kashmir. Usually carried out by youths, in the local language it is called "Kanni Jung", which means fighting with stones and the stone pelters are called as Sangbaaz.[20] There are claims that the rocks are thrown in response to killings of Kashmiri separatists at the hands of forces.[21]

New Zealand

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Individuals who throw rocks at cars can serve 14 years for endangering transport.[22]

Turkey

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Turkey presses charges and imposes prison sentences for the crime of being part of a group throwing stones at police, even when the rock-throwers are 15 years of age and younger.[23]

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) introduced a range of legal measures criminalizing both Kurdish political claims and protest activities by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The harsh sentences handed down against stone-throwing children (taş atan çocuklar) led to a public outcry and to an amendment reducing the length of the sentences on the grounds that it was inappropriate from "a criminal justice point of view."[24]

United Kingdom

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Expansive legislation on public disorder introduced in 1986 allows stone throwers to be sentenced on average to 3+1⁄2 years in prison if the criminal justice system can prove that the action took place in a riot.[25]

United States

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In the U.S., charges vary by state. Depending upon the facts and jurisdiction, potential charges could include disorderly conduct, assault, and battery.[citation needed]

In the United States individuals throwing rocks at another person can be arrested and charged with assault, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.[26] As a 15-year-old, actor Mark Wahlberg was charged in 2 separate incidents of throwing rocks and shouting racial epithets at African-American children.[27]

Rock-throwing can be a felony[28][29] and rock-throwers could face criminal charges, dependent on the circumstances that may include second degree murder,[30] aggravated assault, throwing a missile into an occupied vehicle, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment of life, and aggravated assault with a lethal weapon.[31][32][33] Punishment upon conviction varies as with all punishments for all crimes. A Florida judge sentenced a teenager to serve life in prison for murder by throwing rocks at cars.[30] A New England judge, ruling on teenagers convicted of throwing stones at the windows of passing trains that resulted in eye injuries to passengers, sentenced the convicted to be kept in an eye-injury ward of a hospital for two weeks with their eyes bandaged to make them understand the consequence of their delinquency.[34] Rock throwers can be charged, tried, and convicted even when no injuries or damage result.[35] Under American law they can receive very long sentences and even be sentenced to life in prison.[30][36][37] Under American law, individuals who were part of a group engaged in rock-throwing can be convicted and imprisoned even if they did not personally throw any missiles.[38][39]

Vietnam

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Youths convicted of "vandalism and battery" for throwing stones at vehicles have been imprisoned.[40]

Contexts

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Rock-throwing may occur in a variety of contexts but is often associated with assaultive offenses, demonstrations and riots, and international conflicts.

At people

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Rock-throwing can be used by thieves, as was demonstrated by a 2015 case in India in which Ratan Marwadi, 45, was charged with throwing rocks at a random passer-by, Darshana Pawar, to disable and rob her. Pawar was killed by Ratan Marwadi, who had served time in jail for pelting rail commuters with stones with the intent of robbing them.[41]

Vehicles

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Motor vehicles

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Rocks thrown at cars moving along highways at high speeds have been a problem in a number of countries.[42][43][44][45][46] According to the Austin, Texas, police detective Jarrett Crippen, "When we’re talking about highway speeds of 60, 70 mph, that rock is hitting you full-force.... If it's coming through your windshield, it can cause serious damage to the body, vehicle or even death."[31] A Washington State trooper said of an arrest of criminal rock-throwers, "Any one of these rocks could have punctured a windshield, hit the driver in the face and killed them."[47] Although the rocks are often thrown from overpasses or high points along the roadside, people riding in cars have also been killed by rocks thrown at random vehicles from passing cars.[48]

Notable instances of death and injury caused by rocks thrown at cars include the death of Julie Catherine Laible, a professor at the University of Alabama,[49] the Darmstadt American rock-throwing incident in which American teenagers killed a 20-year-old woman and critically injured her grandmother, then hit another car, killing the 41-year-old mother of 2 small children,[50] the death of Chris Currie, 20, on a road in New Zealand,[22] the killing of David Wilkie by striking miners throwing rocks at cars in the United Kingdom, and the I-80 rock throwing in which youths hurled rocks from an overpass on Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania, critically injuring and permanently disfiguring a passenger.[51] In 2017, a single American highway, Interstate 75, was the scene of 2017 Interstate 75 rock-throwing deaths in two separate incidents.[52]

Trains

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Stone pelting on a train
Shattered glass of a train window

Throwing rocks at trains has long been a problem in countries including the United States and New Zealand, where passengers and train crews have been injured by large rocks thrown through windows.[53][54]

Protests and riots

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Rock throwers at a 2007 anti-Sarkozy demonstration in Paris.

Rock-throwing has been in the past often adopted as a method by an unarmed population to protest a governing power's authority. Under English common law, soldiers were not permitted to shoot at civilians engaged in that kind of protest unless their lives were in danger or they had obtained an express order from a civil magistrate.

At one point, when town officials tried to arrest a British officer who was commanding the guard at Boston Neck, Captain Ponsonby Molesworth intervened to confront a stone-throwing crowd. Molesworth ordered the soldiers to bayonet anyone throwing stones who got too close. A Boston justice told him that, under common law, a bayonet thrust was not an act of self-defense against a stone, which was not a lethal weapon. Had a soldier killed anyone, Molesworth could have been tried for his life.'[55]

Political demonstrations in many countries have resulted with the arrest of violent protestors for throwing rocks and other objects at police.[56][57][58]

Many notorious and deadly riots have begun with or included rock-throwing as violence escalated, including the Toronto Jubilee riots, the Boston Massacre, and the 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots in Ukraine.

International borders

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Egypt

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Stone throwing rioters have repeatedly clashed with Egyptian troops at the Egypt–Gaza border.

  • In 2008, Gazans assaulted Egyptian border guards by throwing barrages of rocks over the low concrete border wall topped with barbed wire, tore down a section of the wall, and opened a road and moving goods and people across for several hours before the Egyptian Army, without using lethal force, managed to regain control of the border.[59]
  • On 6 January 2010, Hamas called on Gazans to protest the Egyptian border blockade. Gazan men responded by massing at the border and throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the Egyptian security forces, who responded with gunfire.[60]

Hungary

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In the 2015 Horgoš riot during the European migrant crisis, illegal immigrants at the Hungarian southern border fence threw rocks and chunks of concrete at Hungarian border police.[61][62]

Spain

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In recent years, increasing numbers of undocumented sub-Saharan Africans have passed through Morocco attempting to reach European Union countries, and many attempt to enter Spanish soil at two Spanish enclaves, Melilla and Ceuta, on the African side of the Mediterranean Sea. On several occasions, Moroccan and Spanish border authorities have defended lethal violence against African illegal immigrants near the Melilla border fence and Ceuta border fence by asserting that groups of migrants attempting to storm the border in mass-entry events had thrown rocks to drive border guards away from the gates.[63][64][65][66]

United States

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See also: Lonnie Swartz, José Rodríguez border incident

Rock-throwers on the Mexican side of the Mexico–United States border frequently target US Border Patrol agents with barrages of rocks to prevent them from apprehending individuals illegally crossing the border, particularly smugglers moving illegal drugs or illegal migrants across the border.[67] Between 2010 and 2014, Border Patrol agents were assaulted with rocks 1,700 times and fired weapons at rock throwers 43 times, resulting in 10 deaths.[68] Border Patrol agents are permitted to respond to rock-throwers with lethal weapons, but as of 2014, the policy is to attempt to avoid finding themselves in situations in which responding to rock-throwing with lethal force becomes necessary.[68][69]

Prevention

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In Florida, statewide policy is to install fences on highly trafficked overpasses and those near schools. An exception is Manatee County, where all overpasses have it due to a rock-throwing death in 1999.[70][71]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Pressman, Jeremy (December 2017). "Throwing stones in social science: Non-violence, unarmed violence, and the first intifada". Cooperation and Conflict. 52 (4): 519–536. doi:10.1177/0010836717701967. JSTOR 48590278. S2CID 151500955. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Stone pelting: A form of resistance". Economic Times. 9 August 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  3. ^ Reeves, Nicholas (2007). The Complete Tutankhamun: The King, the Tomb, the Royal Treasure. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 150–154.
  4. ^ Xenophon. Hellenica (in Ancient Greek). 2.4.12 – via Tufts University.
  5. ^ Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War (in Ancient Greek). 6.69 – via Tufts University.
  6. ^ Cassius Dio Cocceianus. Historiae Romanae (in Ancient Greek). 75.7.2 – via Tufts University.
  7. ^ Smith, William (1875). Murray, John (ed.). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. pp. 553–554. Retrieved 15 August 2023 – via University of Chicago.
  8. ^ Flavius Vegetius Renatus (390). "The Military Institutions of the Romans (De Re Militari)". Digital Attic. Translated from the Latin by Lieutenant John Clarke
  9. ^ 최, 상수. "석전(石戰)". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (in Korean).
  10. ^ Lee, E-Wha (2006). Korea's Pastimes and Customs: A Social History. Homa & Sekey Books. pp. 112–116.
  11. ^ Sir William Blackstone, A Summary of the Constitutional Laws of England Being an Abridgement of Blackstone's Commentaries, John Trusler 1796 pp.175–176
  12. ^ John Burnett, Robert Craigie A treatise on various branches of the criminal law of Scotland, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London, 1811 p.30
  13. ^ Steve Sturdy, Medicine, Health and the Public Sphere in Britain, 1600–2000, Routledge 2013 p.194.
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  15. ^ Bell, Kim (30 January 2015). "St. Louis man charged with throwing brick at cop during Ferguson protes". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  16. ^ Bernstein, Aaron (25 December 2014). "New protests near Ferguson after officer kills armed suspect". CBS. Reuters. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  17. ^ Green, Sarah Jean (2 May 2013). "Arrested protesters accused of rioting, assault". Seattle Times. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  18. ^ Olson, Robin (14 April 2014). "RIOT CHARGES: Richfield man, 22, accused of throwing bottles, rocks". Fox News. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  19. ^ Stein, Micah (6 August 2013). "What's Wrong With Throwing Rocks?". Daily Beast. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  20. ^ "Stone Pelting and Kashmiri Youth". The Analyst World. 20 June 2014. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  21. ^ "Understanding Kashmir's stone pelters". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  22. ^ a b "Man arrested after rocks thrown off bridge". New Zealand Herald. 9 September 2005. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  23. ^ Safak, Timur (15 April 2015). "Stone-throwing kids face 23 years". Hurriyet. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  24. ^ Cengiz Gunes, Welat Zeydanlioglu, The Kurdish Question in Turkey: New Perspectives on Violence, Representation and Reconciliation, Routledge, 2013
  25. ^ Yasmin Hussain, Dr Paul Bagguley, Riotous Citizens: Ethnic Conflict in Multicultural Britain, Ashgate Publishing, 2008 pp. 9, 128
  26. ^ Case, Angela (24 April 2015). "Woman arrested after throwing rocks at police officer". Fox News. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  27. ^ Elder, Larry (2003). Showdown: Confronting Bias, Lies and the Special Interests That Divide America. Macmillan. p. 12. ISBN 9780312320171.
  28. ^ "Rock throwing leads to three felonies". Santa Rosa Press. 12 November 2013. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  29. ^ Miller, Emily Russo (9 November 2012). "Suspected rock-throwers charged with felony assault". Juneau Empire. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  30. ^ a b c "Teen Gets Life For Murder With Hurled Piece Of Rock". Orlando Sentinel. 27 May 2000. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  31. ^ a b Vega, Jackie (3 November 2014). "Police investigate new interstate rock-throwing case". KXAN. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  32. ^ "Family Furious After Boy, 4, Is Hit By Thrown Brick On Staten Island". CBS News. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  33. ^ "Fourth teen charged in I-80 rock throwing". WKYC. AP. 4 August 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2015.[dead link‍]
  34. ^ Joel Feinberg, Harmless Wrongdoing, Oxford University Press, 1988 p.295.
  35. ^ "Two N.j. Men Found Guilty In Rock-throwing Incident". The Morning Call. 13 January 1988. Archived from the original on 10 May 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  36. ^ Stein, Micah (6 August 2013). "What's Wrong With Throwing Rocks?". Daily Beast. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  37. ^ "Teen OKs plea deal in rock throwing". Sunbury Daily Item. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  38. ^ "3rd Steger Man Is Sentenced In Fatal I-57 Rock-throwing". Chicago Tribune. 13 April 1990. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  39. ^ "Teen pleads in rock-throwing death". Tuscaloosa News. 28 November 2001.
  40. ^ Lak, Dak (8 May 2015). "Teenager jailed for rock-throwing incident that claimed man's eye". Thanh Niên. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  41. ^ Gupta, Pradeep (25 February 2015). "Stone-thrower held for death of commuter". Times of India. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  42. ^ Janzen, Eric (4 November 2014). "13 rock-throwing incidents reported along I-35 since June". KXAN. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  43. ^ Beavin, Angie (3 November 2014). "Man still in rehab months after rock was thrown from overpass". KXAN. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  44. ^ "Sharon Twp woman critical after rock thrown through car windshield". WKYX. AP. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2015. [dead link‍]
  45. ^ Greenberg, Lara (11 July 2014). "Arrests Made in Rock-Throwing Incident that Critically Injured Woman". WNEP. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  46. ^ "395 reports of yobs throwing rocks from motorway bridges is tip of iceberg". Daily Mirror. 12 February 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  47. ^ "Naked rock throwers arrested". NBC 2. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  48. ^ Kucher, Karen (27 May 2005). "Woman dies after rock thrown into auto". Union-Tribune San Diego. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  49. ^ "National News Briefs; Professor Killed by Rock Thrown From Overpass". New York Times. 30 March 1999. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  50. ^ Williams, Carol J. (1 March 2000). "Germany to Seek Murder Charges Against 3 U.S. Teens in Rock Attacks". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 April 2015. (subscription required)
  51. ^ Beauge, John (3 December 2014). "Gag order sought in I-80 rock-throwing case in which Ohio woman was injured". The Patriot News. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  52. ^ Johnson, Alex (26 December 2017). "Ohio teens charged with murder after sandbag thrown from bridge hits car, kills passenger". NBC News. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  53. ^ "All Too Common". Television New Zealand. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  54. ^ Philipps, Dave (16 May 2015). "Rock Hurling Is Old Nemesis of Train Crew". New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  55. ^ John Murrin, Paul Johnson, James McPherson, Alice Fahs, Gary Gerstle, : Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People, Cengage Learning, 2011 p.183
  56. ^ "Paris police arrest scores as pro-Palestinian demo turns violent". DW. AFP, dpa, Reuters. 27 July 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  57. ^ "Riot police target Turkish protesters in Istanbul and Ankara on anniversary of Gezi Park". Daily News. AP. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  58. ^ "Huge anti-austerity protest in Madrid turns violent Reports suggest 50 police officers injured during rioting". Irish Times. Reuters. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  59. ^ Erlanger, Steven (26 January 2008). "Egypt Tries to Plug Border; Gazans Poke New Hole". New York Times. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  60. ^ Sanders, Edmund (6 January 2010). "Egypt–Gaza border riot leaves Egyptian guard dead". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 April 2015. (subscription required)
  61. ^ Lyman, Rick (16 September 2015). "Migrants Clash With Police in Hungary, as Others Enter Croatia". New York Times. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  62. ^ Radovanovic, Radul (17 September 2015). "Chaotic border scrums as Croatia becomes migrant hotspot". Seattle Times. AP. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  63. ^ Abad, Rocio (7 February 2014). "Immigrant death toll from assault on Ceuta beach border could rise to 14". El Pais. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  64. ^ "Spain: 400 migrants repelled after charging Moroccan guards, storming Melilla border fence". Fox News. AP. 1 February 2015. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  65. ^ El Hadad, Horia (10 June 2014). "African migrants climb their way into Spain". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  66. ^ Davies, Nick (16 April 2010). "Melilla: Europe's dirty secret". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  67. ^ Medrano, Lourdes (3 December 2012). "Bullets vs. rocks? Border Patrol under fire for use of deadly force". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  68. ^ a b Matalon, Lorne (13 March 2014). "Border Patrol Refines Tactics In Rock-Throwing Scenarios". KPBS. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  69. ^ Dinen, Steven (9 March 2014). "Border Patrol Chief: Agents can still shoot at rock throwers". Washington Times. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  70. ^ Barton, Eric Allen (17 October 2000). "Fences may discourage vandals". Sarasota Herald Tribune. ProQuest 270637413.
  71. ^ Smith, Adam C. (31 March 1999). "Overpasses, rocks: deadly common combination". St. Petersburg Times. ProQuest 263345119.
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