This is not a political post, in that I believe the things I want to talk about are applicable to all those who engage in any form of mass protests/demonstrations regardless of their political persuasion. I’m a believer in mass demonstrations for forcing political and regime changes e.g., it was mass rallies, demonstrations and peaceful protests that were largely responsible for bringing down the Berlin Wall in 1989, and for getting the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, and Gandhi, showed/demonstrated how peaceful, non-violent protest could be used to gain national independence etc. Peaceful protesting can achieve great things, however when things turn violent, the audience that was being courted can lose the sympathy that they had for the cause/issue, or find themselves in a difficult position of supporting the issue whilst having to condemn those who engaged in violent and destructive acts, even when this may be a small minority of protesters etc. The aim of this article is to look at ways of staying safe when protesting, and how to disengage safely if things do turn violent.

                The first point I’d make concerning safety is to think about how you are dressed and how law enforcement might perceive you. You don’t need to be wearing your “Sunday Best” etc., but at the same time you don’t want to be dressed in a way that could mark you out as a potential “rioter” e.g., lose the hoodie or any other types of clothing that could be used to obscure/hide your identity. The more “respectable” you look, the less likely you are to be marked out as a troublemaker. British football hooligans worked this out in the 1970’s and 1980’s i.e., they stopped wearing team shirts and anything else that made them stand out as a supporter, and started to wear designer clothing – this way they weren’t as identifiable to law enforcement etc. Eventually, this “casual” look as it came to be known became its own “uniform”, however it offered a better chance for those involved in these acts of violence to blend in with ordinary people. The more “respectable” you look, the less attention you will draw to yourself as an individual.

                Don’t stay too long and certainly don’t protest after dark. This may mean that you are selective about the protests and demonstrations you attend. When peaceful protests turn violent it is usually not at the start of them. Violence can result from a combination of things such as frustration at the way the event is being policed and/or agitators creating moments when law enforcement feel the need to respond physically etc. Both of these types of situations usually take some time to manifest themselves; people don’t immediately get frustrated, and those looking to hijack a peaceful protest and turn it violent understand that the majority of people attending aren’t going to initially be receptive to becoming violent; those looking to cause trouble will usually exploit many small grievances and frustrations a crowd is seeing/feeling, and this takes time. There is a difference between attending a nighttime candlelight vigil, and a demonstration that goes on into the night. The people who attend a demonstration that starts in the day and extends into the night i.e., give up a lot of their time to it, tend to be the more “hardcore” believers concerning whatever is being protested. This doesn’t make them inherently violent, just more committed, and those who are looking to agitate and instigate violence can exploit this. Also, when it’s dark it becomes much harder for law enforcement to identify who the troublemakers are and those who are looking to exit the scene; the better dressed you are, and the more polite you are to law enforcement, the less likely you are to be contained in a volatile crowd.

                Be aware that certain groups try to hijack protests and demonstrations for their own ends and to highlight the causes they believe in. When a crowd is made up of several differing factions competing for their cause, rather than the one that the organizers of the demonstration intended/planned for, then this “competition” can cause these groups to engage in more extreme forms of demonstration in order to make sure that their voice/issue is heard. If it feels like the original point of the demonstration has been lost to such factions it is probably a good time to leave/exit, as there is a danger that the protest/demonstration will be hijacked, and the original group who planned and organized the event will lose control of it. Whilst you may have sympathy for the different causes these groups are promoting, if it seems that their voice is becoming louder than the intended one then there is a danger that control will slip from the organizers. This doesn’t necessarily mean that those groups intend to act violently, just that nobody is now in control of the demonstration, which is something that more extreme actors/individuals can exploit.

                Take food and water. If law enforcement do contain the crowd you are in, for whatever reason – including your own safety – you might be there for awhile. That’s just how containment works. It’s always good to look at the route and/or geography that a march may take or a demonstration takes place in, because the decision to leave and exit may need to be made at a moment’s notice; there may be no time to check google maps etc. Having an understanding of which side streets lead where etc., is always a good idea, as is staying on the peripheries of the crowd so that it is easier to exit – one exception to this is, if things do kick off, don’t be next to shop windows, as these can sometimes become “brick magnets”.