Tag: Protest

Understanding street protests: from a mathematical model to protest management | PLOS One

Street protests have been a common feature of human society for many centuries. They often act as a driver of social changes but they may also disrupt everyday life and lead to considerable economic losses. Understanding of factors that may affect the duration of street protests and the number of participants is a problem of pivotal importance. Mathematical modelling is an efficient research approach to study this problem. Here we present a novel modelling framework that takes into account heterogeneity of protesters behaviour and the effect of policing. Using the 2018–2019 Yellow Vest Movement in France as a case study, we show that our model is in a very good agreement with data. We also show that a moderate increase in the efficiency of police actions on particular days may have a significant effect on protest’s intensity and duration. Our findings open a possibility for a more efficient protests management.
— Read on journals.plos.org/plosone/article

NYPD union can’t overturn record police brutality settlement | Courthouse News Service

MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal appeals panel on Wednesday affirmed a record settlement resolving a federal class action over so-called “kettling” tactics used by New York City law enforcement to trap civil rights protesters.

A three-judge panel for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a summary order that the Police Benevolent Association, the largest of New York City’s five police unions, failed to demonstrate that it would suffer “legal prejudice” from upholding a lower court’s dismissal of the union’s intervenor claims against the massive settlement agreement and overhaul of NYPD protest policing tactics.

A Manhattan federal district court judge previously rejected the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York’s objections to the settlement as a third-party intervenor, and on appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed the lower court tossing out the union’s safety objections on a motion to dismiss.
— Read on www.courthousenews.com/nypd-union-cant-overturn-record-police-brutality-settlement/

Report: Deploying police was ‘reasonable,’ but UMass Amherst leaders could have chosen other responses | WBUR News

A new report released by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in part questions whether the school could have pursued alternative responses to a heavy police presence during campus protests of the war in Gaza last year.
— Read on www.wbur.org/news/2025/01/17/massachusetts-college-encampment-protest-gaza

Get the report HERE

US appeals court reverses ruling that Arizona police used excessive force against anti-Trump protesters – JURIST – News

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that qualified immunity applied to the police interactions because the protestors did not cite a case that “‘clearly establish[ed]’ that Defendants’ use of force … was objectively unreasonable.” The appeals court explained that qualified immunity is granted to government officials “unless (1) they violated a federal statutory or constitutional right, and (2) the unlawfulness of their conduct was ‘clearly established at the time.’”

Protestor Ira Yedlin was part of a crowd aggressively pushing a fence separating the Free Speech Zone from another security zone distancing the anti-Trump protestors from the rally. The police fired pepper balls that struck and bruised Yedlin. The court found that the police did not use excessive force because the breach would have been “an immediate and substantial threat to the safety of the officers, nearby members of the public, and potentially [Trump’s] motorcade.”
— Read on www.jurist.org/news/2024/12/us-appeals-court-reverses-ruling-that-arizona-police-used-excessive-force-against-anti-trump-protesters/

Model Legislation to Modernize Anti-KKK Masking Laws for Intimidating Protesters | Manhattan Institute

Just as Ku Klux Klan members used white hoods to conceal their identities and terrorize their targets, modern activists are using keffiyehs, Guy Fawkes masks, balaclavas, and other inherently intimidating face coverings. Indeed, face-masking is pervasive among participants in demonstrations that are growing in frequency and disruptiveness. Most recently, the pro-Hamas “protests” that have proliferated […]
— Read on manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters

Model Legislation to Modernize Anti-KKK Masking Laws for Intimidating Protesters | Manhattan Institute

Just as Ku Klux Klan members used white hoods to conceal their identities and terrorize their targets, modern activists are using keffiyehs, Guy Fawkes masks, balaclavas, and other inherently intimidating face coverings. Indeed, face-masking is pervasive among participants in demonstrations that are growing in frequency and disruptiveness. Most recently, the pro-Hamas “protests” that have proliferated […]
— Read on manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters