Ms. Khan’s students were discussing recent protests calling for reform in their area that had resulted in violence. Ellie said, “I would like to be able to protest when I see injustice, but how can I know whether a protest will be safe to attend, especially for a student like me?” Ms. Khan suggested Ellie look for research on what makes some protests safe and what catalyzes violence or vandalism. 

Ellie summarized what she found with the class: A study in the Journal of Conflict Resolution looked at protests across the world. Researchers found that two qualities correlated (matched up) with protest violence: lack of clear organization by the protesters and recent government repression, such as arresting or attacking nonviolent protesters to disperse them. The study shows that spontaneous, unplanned protests resulted in violence 20.8% of the time, while organized protests with clear leadership only became violent 12.6% of the time. Researchers also found that protests are more likely to break out in violence if people assemble within one day of an act of government repression. These protests have a 25% chance of violence. This number falls to an 11% chance of violence if it has been six months since an act of government repression. 

Below are descriptions of three different protests. Think about which protests are more or less likely to result in violence. Place each protest on the continuum below, based on its characteristics. 

Where did you place these along the continuum and why? Discuss with your partner.

Discussion Question:

The researchers in this study looked for qualities in protests that correlated (or matched up) with violence. They were not able to prove these qualities directly caused protest violence. How does this influence your thinking about whether protests are safe for children to attend?