title: RabbitMQ - Removed unacked messages on a queue that does not have any consumers
body: <p>We have a backup queue in RabbitMQ that simply keeps a copy of old messages for human consumption. There are no consumers on this queue, and the only way to view messages is to use the Get Messages UI/API.</p>
  
  <p>The issue is that one of the users tried to Get over 24k messages with requeue enabled, and the queue got into a bad state.</p>
  
  <p>Currently I see that there are 24k <em>unacked</em> messages, but I don't have any consumers on the queue.</p>
  
  <p>All I want to do at this point is purge the queue to get rid of the old messages, but I cannot clear the ones that are unacked. And since there are no consumers, I am not aware of any connection that I can close which would move the messages back into ready status.</p>
  
  <p>Is there any Admin action I can do to empty out the contents of this queue?
  If not, is there anything I can do at this point to move the message back into ready status?</p>
  
  <p><strong>Edit:</strong> Other similar questions on this topic all have consumers whereas I do not, so their solutions don't apply to me. Hence why I am creating this as a new question.</p>
  
  <p>Thank you</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/KdNcI.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RabbitMQ Screenshot of Unacked Messages</a></p>