You may attend a protest at which security forces deploy crowd control measures. The goal of this document is to help you be prepared and safe during your first exposures to these circumstances. Informational Security What to do with your phone Instead of bringing your own phone, bring a prepaid mobile phone. If your regular phone and your prepaid phone are together while on, your prepaid phone’s connection to you can be inferred ( https://ssd.eff.org/module/attending-protest ). Keep your prepaid phone off except at the protest and at home. To prepare your prepaid phone for use, turn off your phone, go to a place unconnected to you, then turn on your prepaid phone and load it with what you need. Turn off your prepaid phone, leave, then turn on your regular phone. Turn the phone’s fingerprint or face unlocking capabilities off. The police can use these to get access to your phone without a warrant. Set a strong password: “8-12 random characters that are easy to remember and type in when you unlock your device” ( https://ssd.eff.org/module/attending-protest ). It is difficult (although not necessarily impossible) for law enforcement to access a phone protected by a strong password. Obscuring Your Identity If you are identified after a protest, this can put your well being at risk. If this is of concern to you, consider black bloc. Black bloc is the practice of wearing generic black clothes in a manner intended to conceal one’s identity. The following image explains it clearly: (From https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/direct-action/blocing-up/ ) Black bloc is generally a group tactic, and is more effective the more adopted it is, but the same methods of obscuring one’s identity work for individuals as well. Cover your face, hair, piercings and tattoos, wear black clothes that are as generic as possible, and swap clothes instead of wearing bloc in transit. Recording Protests As much as possible, record only security forces, not protestors. Recording protestors can put them at risk. Photos are captured with metadata, which reveals information like your location and potentially your name. You can scrub metadata by sending yourself your photos in signal, then downloading the sent copies ( https://ssd.eff.org/module/attending-protest ). If you post photos, most platforms will remove the metadata automatically, so other users will not be able to see this data. However, the platform, and therefore security forces, may still gather that information before stripping it. Do not rely on platforms to protect your metadata from leaking. Legal Preparations Write the phone number of an attorney or legal organization on your arm in marker. You can find a lawyer willing to represent protestors here: https://www.nlg.org/referral-directory/?state_province=All&field_of_concentration_13[]= Civil+Disobedience%2Fdemonstration Depending on your means, you may wish to look up the information of a bail fund operating in your area: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/nbfn-directory Protective Equipment Basic Items Bring lots of water, not just to prevent dehydration and heatstroke but because you may need to rinse someone’s eyes. Bring snacks. Expect to be out longer than you expect. Cover as much of your skin as possible, and be prepared to remove layers. Wear a clean mask. Do not soak the mask: Recommendations floating around on the Internet suggest that soaking masks in either water or vinegar can help one breathe better. Unfortunately, “from a medical perspective, people really shouldn’t,” Haar says. “It’s really hard to breathe through a wet mask. And if you use vinegar, you can get light-headed from the fumes.” She stresses that simply wearing a clean mask can reduce chemical irritants’ effects on the respiratory system. ( https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-protect-yourself-during-protest s/ ) Do not wear oil based sunscreen or beauty products. ( https://www.allure.com/story/beauty-products-not-to-wear-when-protesting ) Do not wear contact lenses. “If you're exposed to tear gas or pepper spray, contacts will make the experience much worse. Wear glasses if you have them” ( https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-protest-safely-gear-tips/ ). Wear a helmet, any modern helmet at all. For an exhaustive breakdown see https://crimethinc.com/2020/09/01/a-demonstrators-guide-to-helmets-everything-you-ne ed-to-know Kneepads and elbow pads will protect your joints if you fall to the ground, and protect frequently targeted areas: “Police are trained to aim most impact weapons at the navel or below; they often specifically target knees or limbs.” ( https://crimethinc.com/2020/12/15/a-demonstrators-guide-to-body-armor-protecting-you rself-against-blows-batons-bullets-and-more ) Other Equipment The humble umbrella is a popular and useful protest item. They can protect the user from the sun and rain, and they obscure faces. Umbrellas at the front line can serve as broad makeshift shields which make it more difficult to fire tear gas canisters and pepperballs into the crowd. A makeshift shield, even something as simple as a backpack full of hard items, can serve similar purposes and help blunt or block baton rounds. Goggles made with impact resistant glass can help protect the eyes from shrapnel or baton rounds. The impact resistance is important. While it is true that any tightly fitting goggles, such as swimming goggles, can help protect your eyes from teargas, and even sunglasses have some positive effect ( https://www.popsci.com/story/diy/tear-gas-guide/ ), glass in your eyes is extremely dangerous. The legality of bulletproof vests varies by state ( https://www.spartanarmorsystems.com/body-armor-laws-by-state-know-your-rights ), and protection from small arms fire is outside of our scope. However, sports armor, such as for fencing, is legal everywhere, fits under clothes, and can protect against baton rounds ( https://crimethinc.com/2020/12/15/a-demonstrators-guide-to-body-armor-protecting-you rself-against-blows-batons-bullets-and-more ). Dealing with Common Less Lethal Weapons Chemical Irritants Teargas Canisters Various tactics have been developed to deal with the problem of tear gas canisters. The most important thing to know is that tear gas canisters are extremely hot. Never touch them with your bare hands. The canisters are not releasing preexisting pockets of gas: they contain a substance (“CS”) which emits gas when it burns. They use explosions to ignite this substance. There is no risk free method of interacting with such a device, especially since it may not be clear that a canister actually is a tear gas canister and not, say, an undetonated stun grenade. Canisters are supposed to be fired in long overhead arcs or skipped with a shot off the ground, so as not to hit people full force. In practice, they are often shot directly at protestors. Ideally, the canisters should simply be deflected, removed or avoided. Umbrellas blocking canister shots can make it less effective to shoot into the front lines of a protest, and heat resistant gloves make it possible to throw the canisters. Kicking canisters is not recommended because you may burn your foot or launch the canister in an unexpected direction. If the canisters cannot be deflected, blowing the gas away with leaf blowers can be effective: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2020/jul/25/portland-protesters-counter-tea rgas-with-leaf-blowers-in-standoff-with-federal-troops-video If tear gas canisters must be deactivated, it is possible to douse them with water. Here are videos demonstrating the technique: - Several people rapidly converge on a canister and pour bottled water on it. https://x.com/nvanderklippe/status/1138747496941756416 . This is only sufficient for very small canisters: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/06/hong-kong-tear-gas-water-bottle.html - Fill a container with water. Pick up the canister using heat resistant gloves and dump it in the container. https://x.com/jeffchan_hk0/status/1266254199412543489 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piiKEd-NZyg . Do not seal the container. “For this method, though, protection is key: Exposure to higher concentrations of CS powder make it absolutely necessary to have your eyes and airways thoroughly covered with a gas mask, and wearing appropriate, heat-resistant protection on your hands is a must to avoid burns.” ( https://www.popsci.com/story/diy/tear-gas-guide/ ). - A traffic cone is immediately put over a canister to contain the cloud. Water is poured into the top until the previous method can be used. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpqEQARnVbs Pepper Balls Security forces sometimes use pepper balls, which are paintballs full of variations on pepper spray. These are also referred to as “tear gas,” although the chemical in use is different and doesn’t require combustion. While tear gas canisters hit a wide area, pepper balls are relatively short range, more targeted and aren’t spread much by wind ( https://www.fastcompany.com/90512601/its-terrible-that-we-even-have-to-explain-what- pepper-balls-are-but-here-we-are ). Recommended usage involves aiming low, because shots to the face can be lethal ( https://web.archive.org/web/20110610210149/http://www.cityofboston.gov/police/pdfs/r eport.pdf ). There is not much that can be done about pepper balls besides deflecting them, or being well protected against the effects (say, by gas masks). Once You’ve Been Gassed First, move out of the cloud of irritants. Avoiding breathing the gas in is the priority; despite the emphasis on protection of the eyes in this guide, much of the pain of tear gas comes from ingestion. Try not to swallow. Cough, spit, and blow your nose. Do not rub your eyes. If your eyes are in pain, do not put milk or other spurious substances in them. Flush them with clean water. Others use milk, a mixture of baking soda and water or a watered-down preparation of an over-the-counter heartburn treatment with aluminum and magnesium hydroxide as its main active ingredients. Yet none of those three methods are recommended from a medical standpoint. “Copious amounts of water and soap and fresh air are really the only things that make a significant difference...” ( https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-protect-yourself-during-protest s/ ) Your clothes may be soaked with chemicals. Take off outer layers if possible. Shower as soon as possible. Wipe off your shoes and glasses and wash your clothes. Baton Rounds and KIPs “Baton rounds” and “KIPs” are ill defined blanket terms for less lethal alternatives to metal bullets; we take these terms to include bean bag rounds, rubber bullets, and rubber balls. All of them are extremely dangerous, with death or permanent disability being real possibilities ( https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5736036/ ). Wear kneepads. Most injuries occur below the waist. It appears that the most effectively trained police prefer to shoot demonstrators in the kneecaps. ( https://crimethinc.com/2021/01/04/a-demonstrators-guide-to-understanding-riot- munitions-and-how-to-defend-against-them ). If you do not have a method of shielding yourself, there is not much you can do about KIPs besides either taking the hits or moving. Explosives Flashbangs Flashbangs, also called stun grenades, are grenades which release blinding light and make a loud sound upon detonation, blinding and dizzying the targets. Sunglasses are not effective against flashbangs. Earplugs are of limited effectiveness: Few medical studies have been conducted on acoustic weapons’ effects on humans or on how to protect against them. A Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) report says the “use of earplugs or firmly blocking the ears with hands can decrease the sound by [20 to 30 decibels], but this may not be enough to avoid significant injury.” ( https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-protect-yourself-during-protest s/ ) Flashbangs are supposed to be detonated at least 5-6 feet away from any person, often in the air, but practice security forces often just throw them at people ( https://crimethinc.com/2021/01/04/a-demonstrators-guide-to-understanding-riot-munitio ns-and-how-to-defend-against-them ). There is not much you can do about these besides try to stay away from them. Do not pick them up. Blast Balls Blast balls are flashbangs which also release chemical irritants or shrapnel. They often release rubber balls or other plastic shrapnel as well. Do not pick them up. Kettling and Arrests Getting Kettled Kettling is a practice which has become common in American crowd control situations. While typical security force practices aim to disperse protestors, kettling consists of instead trapping them in a controlled area, effectively detaining them indefinitely, sometimes overnight. The purpose may be to make targeted arrests, to effect a mass arrest, to search members of the crowd, to attack the crowd, to effect dispersal through slow controlled releases of protestors, or there may be no apparent purpose at all. The inventor of kettling advocated for kettling as a method of making protestors bored: “I remain firmly of the view that containment succeeds in restoring order by using boredom as its principle weapon, rather than fear as people flee from on-rushing police wielding batons.” ( https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/professor-defends-kettling-technique-u sed-3947635 ). Avoiding Kettling Security forces seem to kettle ‘by default’ in places that particularly facilitate the tactic, such as bridges, highways and tunnels. For example, posters on the Los Angeles subreddit claimed with some asperity that three separate protests had gotten kettled in the same tunnel ( https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/1ihb04j/lapd_kettled_the_protesters_into_a_tu nnel_from ), and New York police famously kettled over 5000 people on the Brooklyn Bridge for over an hour ( https://web.archive.org/web/20200607214422/https://www.gq.com/story/what-is-kettling ), to no apparent end. If you realize a kettle is about to form, one obvious measure is to let others know and then leave. However, spotting incoming kettles as an individual seems to be difficult, especially since security forces sometimes feign attempts at kettling in hopes of dispersing crowds ( https://web.archive.org/web/20200607214422/https://www.gq.com/story/what-is-kettling ). Some groups have successfully monitored police scanners to avoid kettles ( https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/feb/02/inside-anti-kettling-hq ). Once You’ve Been Kettled There is no way of knowing whether security forces will attack you, arrest you, or let you go, or how long it will take. If attacks don’t seem imminent, you may as well break out your snacks and get settled. Getting Arrested If you are being arrested, you are not in an argument. Give them your name and phone number, and don’t say anything else, no matter how trivial or exculpatory, except that you need to speak to your lawyer. Without a warrant, the police do not have the right to force you to unlock your phone for them. They do not have the ability to force you to submit a DNA sample, for example by insisting you allow them to swab your cheek. “A cheek swab is a common way to obtain DNA, but police have other methods you should watch out for, including offering you water bottles, cigarettes or gum. It’s best not to accept anything from the police—and especially not during an arrest.” ( https://lifehacker.com/what-to-do-if-youre-arrested-while-protesting-1843921685 ). Not Showing Up If your health or other considerations make showing up too risky, not showing up is an extremely effective method of protecting yourself. Consider the conclusion of a 2017 study on the use of chemical irritants as crowd control: We found that chemical irritants cause severe injury, permanent disabilities, and in rare cases, death. Despite chemical irritants being recognized as safe weapons to disperse or control crowds, the number and types of injuries documented in this review highlight the serious risks associated with the frequent use of these weapons. Specific risks include the use of chemical irritants in enclosed spaces, excessive quantity of chemicals used, specific environmental factors such as heat and humidity and direct targeting of individuals, both with the projectile canister as well as spray to the face. Protocols to limit indiscriminate use of chemical irritants are urgently needed in order to safeguard human rights and prevent unnecessary morbidity and mortality among protestors and bystanders worldwide. ( https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5649076/ ) Consider that teargas causes miscarriages: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/police-who-tear-gas-abortion-rights-protester s-could-induce-abortion/ Consider that being beaten with a baton can have a wide variety of negative health impacts. And so on. If it seems too dangerous for you to go to a protest, there are many ways to fight fascism.