A sleeping dragon is a maneuver used by protesters to hinder their removal from a protest site. A series of protesters are handcuffed together through

PVC pipe Plastic pipe is a tubular section, or hollow cylinder, made of plastic. It is usually, but not necessarily, of circular cross-section, used mainly to convey substances which can flow—liquids and gases (fluids), slurries, powders and masses of sm ...

, which prevents

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

from simply using bolt cutters to break the handcuffs. Advanced variations include covering the PVC pipe with elements which might make it more difficult to break. Examples include

chicken wire The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and ...

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...

, and

duct tape Duct tape or duck tape is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. A variety of constructions exist using different backings and adhesives, and the term "duct tape" has been genericized to refer to all o ...

. Another variation is filling a barrel with

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

and putting the PVC pipe through the barrel such that it cannot be accessed without first destroying all of the concrete. Often the protesters will chain, lock, or otherwise secure themselves to immovable objects, resulting in a difficult-to-remove human obstacle. This is typically accomplished best with

carabiner A carabiner or karabiner (), often shortened to biner or to crab, colloquially known as a (climbing) clip, is a specialized type of shackle, a metal loop with a spring-loaded gate used to quickly and reversibly connect components, most notabl ...

s tied to their wrists so that the protestors can easily unlock themselves, though they cannot be unlocked by outsiders.

Removal methods

It is sometimes impossible for officers to know what is inside the sleeping dragon without cutting into it. Officers may cut into the pipe with such tools as an

angle grinder An angle grinder, also known as a side grinder or disc grinder, is a handheld power tool used for grinding (abrasive cutting) and polishing. History The high-speed angle grinder was invented in 1954 by German company Ackermann + Schmitt ( FLE ...

rotary saw A rotary saw, spiral cut saw, RotoZip or cut out tool is a type of mechanically powered saw used for making accurate cuts without the need for a pilot hole in wallboard, plywood, or another thin, solid material. The Rotozip Tool Corp was a compa ...

, or whizzer saw, followed by a pry bar and pliers; or in the case of concrete, chipping hammers,

hammer drill A hammer drill, also known as a percussion drill or impact drill, is a power tool used chiefly for drilling in hard materials. It is a type of rotary drill with an impact mechanism that generates a hammering motion. The percussive mechanism provi ...

s, and breakers.

Abrasive saw __NOTOC__ An abrasive saw, also known as a cut-off saw or chop saw, is a circular saw (a kind of power tool) which is typically used to cut hard materials, such as metals, tile, and concrete. The cutting action is performed by an abrasive disc ...

s, a

band saw A bandsaw (also written band saw) is a power saw with a long, sharp blade consisting of a continuous band of toothed metal stretched between two or more wheels to cut material. They are used principally in woodworking, metalworking, and lumb ...

, and an angle grinder may be used on steel pipes. Officers may put fire retardant hoods and earmuffs on the protesters to protect them from sparks and noise as tools are used to cut through the sleeping dragon. Once an inspection hole has been made, it may be possible to reach in with bolt cutters and cut the handcuff chain. In 2018, Seattle police established an Apparatus Removal Team (ART) in response to sleeping dragon protests, its officers being trained and equipped to cut through plastic and metal without injuring protesters. Their approach involves cutting into tubing and placing a brightly colored piece of plastic against the protester's skin, so that the blade will produce visible plastic shavings before it can cause any injury.

References

{{reflist

External links

*Kersten, Katherine
"Are Twin Cities ready for 'sleeping dragon'? Dream on"
Star Tribune. July 22, 2008. *Levine, Marty
Breaking Down Defense Mechanisms
Pittsburgh City Newspaper. March 8, 2007. *Christopher N. Osher
Denver police propose law to take pipes, chains out of protesters' hands
Denver Post. July 15, 2008. *Patrick Young
The Next Page: Hot trends in protest technology
as Tools of the Trade. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 18, 2007. * Helen & Harry Highwater

Unknown News. Sept. 28, 2003. Protest tactics

Removal methods

See also

References

External links