Urban Unrest: Surviving and Moving During Modern Protests

A civilian field guide for staying invisible, mobile, and alive.

You’re downtown. Early evening….typical environment like you are used to. People are leaving offices, grabbing food, scrolling phones. It feels normal…until it doesn’t.

A loud noise builds from somewhere ahead. You hear the cadence before the words. Then a crashing noise…the sound of a crowd moving as one.

Someone nearby says, “Not again.”

Another starts recording (as usual) as a bottle breaks.

The police sirens are faint at first, then they seem like they’re coming from everywhere.

You turn a corner and see a wall of bodies…flags, masks, black clothing, smoke from a flare. It spreads fast. People who were walking minutes ago are now running.

You’re not part of the riot, but somehow you’ve found yourself inside it.

The First Five Minutes

If you find yourself trapped when a protest flips into a riot, your only job is to move.

Standing still makes you a target for both sides…the mob and the response. Every second you hesitate, routes close and tempers rise.

Don’t film…don’t shout…don’t argue. Keep your head down and move with purpose.

Look for side streets, loading docks, alleyways…anything that cuts perpendicular to the crowd.

If people are pushing north, slip east or west. Avoid moving directly against the flow unless you’re already near the edge.

If you’re on foot and traffic is gridlocked, use parked cars as cover and move along their far sides.

Keep one hand free. If you fall, don’t wait for help…roll, get up, keep moving.

Avoid doorways where others are taking shelter unless you can see a clear rear exit.

A panicked crowd can crush a group inside a storefront faster than you’d think.