Street Safety hosts resources for protesters.

Organize

Unite with people from your neighborhood, school, church, or other affinity group. Stay together. Be ready to assist others. Organize your group into buddy pairs.

  • Designate a buddy pair to negotiate with police.
  • Do not let children leave your sight.
  • Maintain contact with other affinity groups and family, classmates, or church members who are not at the protest.
  • Stay calm and focused. Eat and sleep when you need to.

Don't forget the basics

  • Get enough sleep.
  • Stay hydrated. Drink 3 liters of water a day if you can.
  • Bring snacks: nuts, bananas, apples, and granola bars are good.
  • When you have downtime, eat a healthy balanced meal and rest.
  • Caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol, and other drugs stress your system, decrease your reaction time, and make you more vulnerable. Drink more water instead.
  • Relax, focus, sing, and pray on the days you plan to be in the street.

Communications

Make sure your phone is charged and you have service.

  • Trade social media handles with other groups like yours. Verify rumors and support each other.
  • Use encrypted chat apps (signal, briar, snikket, element).
  • Keep emergency contacts and essential information on paper and in your phone. Your phone may get taken, lost, or broken.
  • Everyone must know what to do in case of problems and where to go (nearest hospital, home of a relative, etc).

Prevent disease

  • Mask, wash hands, don't touch eyes, nose, or mouth.
  • Cough into your elbow. Leave mask on when you cough.
  • Avoid the "3 Cs" -- Closed spaces (poor ventilation or central air), Crowded places (many people nearby), Close-contact settings (such as close-range conversations). The "3 Cs" are most dangerous when they overlap (jail, indoor protest, or mass transit).
  • Avoid or disinfect items handled by many people.
  • Do not visit or live with elderly, sick, or institutionalized people for 14 days after exposure to the "3 Cs."
  • Plan who will bring you food and take care of you if you get sick.

At home

  • Check the weather and prepare for it.
  • Know where your group plans to sleep. Let family know where you're staying.
  • Plan to have a few days free before you go back to school, work, or family responsibilities. You may need time to speak out, rest, sleep, and talk to someone about your experiences.
  • Consider whether you can quarantine for 14 days to be sure you don't spread respiratory disease.
  • Make a plan for if you are arrested. Someone you trust should have important information, including:
    • Who should be contacted if you are arrested.
    • Any medications you may need in jail.
    • Any responsibilities that need to be taken care of if you do not get home as planned (such as children, work, animals, etc).
  • If you have asthma or other breathing problems, chemical weapons may cause a severe attack. Carry your inhaler and avoid tear gas.
  • Talk about your hopes, fears, and expectations every day. Talk through what could happen and how you might respond.
  • Share useful skills and information: know your rights, cooking for lots of people, direct action tactics (road blockade, banner hang), copwatch/legal observer, legislation people can lobby for or against, bird-dogging, paper-wrenching, popular education, community-based theater and art, local history, etc.

In the street

Pay careful awareness to what is happening around you. Police use fear as a weapon. The more prepared you are, the less they can intimidate and control you.

  • Know the layout of the area. Think ahead about where you will go if there is trouble.
  • Pay attention to what police are doing, where they are moving and what equipment they are carrying.
  • Know where you can get medical treatment if any member of your group is injured, and how to get to medical care.

Awareness and rumor control

  • Assume anyone may do anything at any time. It should not surprise you when police blockade, surround, penetrate or break up a demonstration. The key to not being caught off guard is to stay prepared.
  • Do not spread rumors. Ignore or verify them.
  • Do not panic; help others stay calm and focused. Sometimes the situation is frightening. If you aren't calm and focused, go somewhere safe to calm down (bring your buddy). If someone else can't calm down, help him get somewhere safe with his buddy.
  • Look outwards from the crowd. If someone is getting first aid, face away from him. Form a circle and link arms facing out to protect him.
  • Protect your escape routes -- stand in front of them. If police block your only exit, look for ways to increase your number. Join up with other groups and absorb stragglers. You may stand a better chance of getting out unharmed, with all your belongings and equipment, if you leave together at the same time.

Online first aid guide

Bookmark these links in your phone:

Source

CC BY-SA. Derived from anonymous file in widely-circulated French, Arabic, and Tunisian-language care package (2010/2011) and Boston Area Liberation Medic Squad (2001, Stay Healthy So You Can Stay in the Streets).

Based on infosheet produced for 2011 Arab Spring, revised for 2014 Ferguson uprising by A. Grace Keller (reviewed by Brian Dominick). This is the third revision.