How do you use the manacles?

I admit to bafflement. I get the manacles from the guards for the Triel farmer brawl quest, and I cannot figure out how to use them. Their description says that you perform a successful hit; the options when you talk to the villagers during the brawl (you're under arrest) never does anything useful apart from them telling you to get lost. If I attack them they die instead of getting cuffed ... something's clearly wrong. How are the cuffs used? Philwyn

Equip them in your weapon slot or quick use slot iirc. Then when you move the cursor over a villager it changes the icon. Click again to secure the villagers. It helps to pause a lot to locate the icon over the right villager. Ask them to join the guard, if they say hell no iirc you can talk to them again till they say yes.