Crowd control barriers (also referred to as crowd control barricades, with some versions called a French barrier or bike rack in the USA, and mills barriers in Hong Kong) are commonly used at many public events. They are frequently visible at sporting events, parades, political rallies, demonstrations, and outdoor festivals. Event organizers, venue managers, and security personnel use barricades as part of their crowd management planning.
History
Nadar
Brussels mayor Jules Anspach has been credited with the invention of the crowd control barrier for the occasion of the visit of the French photographer Nadar to Brussels. On his visit to Brussels with the balloon Géant, on September 26, 1864, Anspach erected mobile barriers to keep the crowd at a safe distance.2 Up to this day, crowd control barriers are known in both Belgian Dutch and Belgian French as Nadar barriers.3
Interlocking steel barriers were patented in France in 1951.
See also
- 2009 Birmingham Millennium Point stampede
- Chicane (barrier)
- Crowd control
- Crowd manipulation
- Privacy fencing
- Temporary fencing
- Vinyl fence
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crowd control barrier.- Article about sawhorses used for crowd control (paywall)
- Facility Manager article on steel barrier stability in windy conditions
- New York Daily News article on steel barrier use in New York City
References
"Newly designed mills barriers". Press releases (Press release). Hong Kong Government. 23 January 2002. Archived from the original on 2003-01-08. Retrieved 26 November 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20030108054130/http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200201/23/0123257.htm ↩
https://bruges-la-morte.net/wp-content/uploads/Baudelaire_Bruxelles.pdf [bare URL PDF] https://bruges-la-morte.net/wp-content/uploads/Baudelaire_Bruxelles.pdf ↩
Nadarafsluiting at www.cornille-mct.be http://www.cornille-mct.be/fr/nadar.html ↩