Sometimes it’s banners or megaphones. But other times, police haul away some utterly random items. You can’t help but wonder why someone brought them to a protest. We checked out some reports, and here are twelve strange items that police have genuinely confiscated at protests. Which one would’ve surprised you most if you saw it happen?
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Saucepans
The French aren’t shy about protesting. And in the small town of Ganges, protesters were ready to bang pots against Macron’s pension reform. But they lost their cookware before they could even get started. The cops argued that the saucepans counted as “sound devices” under a temporary order, meaning they were allowed to take them as contraband. Seriously.
Laser pointers
During the Hong Kong protests, police forces stopped a student leader who was carrying several laser pointers in his bag. The police staged a demonstration afterward. They called these pointers “laser guns” and shone them across a wall for the cameras to prove the point. The locals responded with a playful “laser show” protest of their own, just to show how they didn’t care.
A pink boat
Extinction Rebellion rolled a bright pink boat into London’s busy Oxford Circus. They then chained it down. On the side, they painted the message “Tell the Truth,” and crowds rallied around it for days. That was until police finally hooked it up to a tow truck. They hauled the stranded ship through city streets & ultimately confiscated it.
Mobility gear
But it got worse for Extinction Rebellion. Police also took some things no one really expected, like wheelchairs & walking sticks. Even some people’s oxygen tanks were hauled off by the cops. Disability rights groups later called the whole thing humiliating, and naturally so. This happened even though the protests that day weren’t particularly violent.
“Nessie” inflatable
Glasgow’s COP26 climate conference involved the usual protests, like marches & banners. And an inflatable Loch Ness Monster. Activists planned to float “Nessie” on the River Clyde, but officers stepped in. They took the blow-up away first. According to Police Scotland, river restrictions meant the stunt wasn’t safe.
A clown costume
Police at Kingsnorth power station’s climate camp confiscated all manner of things. This was when they were searching the tents. Among them was a full clown suit. Activists later said even writing supplies like colored markers had been taken, but the clown gear stuck out in particular. And rightly so.
Swimming goggles
During the G20 protests in Toronto, one marcher said police confiscated his swim goggles. But he had them for a legitimate reason. He was trying to keep tear gas out of his eyes. Later, the protester filed an official complaint & claimed the police took many things from him that included umbrellas and bottles of eyewash.
A giant yellow rubber duck
Russian rallies against corruption in 2017 featured a rather unusual mascot. It was a big yellow rubber duck. Protesters carried props & posters with duck drawings after a report claimed that a politician’s lavish estate had its own “duck house.” Of course, police weren’t having it. They stopped & removed a massive inflatable duck at one demo.
A panda mascot head
Julien Villeneuve is a philosophy professor known as “Anarchopanda.” He wore a panda suit to student marches. One day in 2013, officers grabbed the oversized panda head, claiming a city rule banned face coverings. This left the costume headless. At least, until the furry helmet was handed back days later, and Anarchopanda became his full-body self again.
A plastic bucket
The 2013-14 demonstrations in Hamburg over gentrification were some of the strangest. Police took away a regular household bucket from some protesters. That was it. A plain plastic bucket. Cops included it on the seizure list next to items like toilet brushes & scarves after authorities had declared parts of the city “danger zones.” The bucket? It didn’t make it past the line.
Kites
Activists outside South Australia’s Baxter immigration detention center brought along homemade kites. They let them fly over the camp as a kind of peaceful symbol. But the police weren’t having it. They moved in quickly, saying the kites broke airspace rules, and although the charges were later dropped, the owners never got their kites back.
Blank sheets of paper
In Russia, people against the war in Ukraine used white paper to protest. The pages were totally blank. Yet this was too much for the police, who walked right up & took the pages anyway. Several people were detained simply for standing with them in public squares. Who knew an empty page could be so controversial?
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