A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate by attending, and share the potential costs and risks of doing so. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass political demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or government policy, or they may undertake direct action in an attempt to enact desired changes themselves. When protests are part of a systematic and peaceful nonviolent campaign to achieve a particular objective, and involve the use of pressure as well as persuasion, they go beyond mere protest and may be better described as civil resistance or nonviolent resistance.
Various forms of self-expression and protest are sometimes restricted by governmental policy (such as the requirement of protest permits), economic circumstances, religious orthodoxy, social structures, or media monopoly. One state reaction to protests is the use of riot police. Observers have noted an increased militarization of protest policing in many countries, with police deploying armored vehicles and snipers against protesters. When such restrictions occur, protests may assume the form of open civil disobedience, more subtle forms of resistance against the restrictions, or may spill over into other areas such as culture and emigration.
A protest itself may at times be the subject of a counter-protest. In such cases, counter-protesters demonstrate their support for the person, policy, action, etc. that is the subject of the original protest. Protesters and counter-protesters can sometimes violently clash. One study found that nonviolent activism during the civil rights movement in the United States tended to produce favorable media coverage and changes in public opinion focusing on the issues organizers were raising, but violent protests tended to generate unfavorable media coverage that generated public desire to restore law and order.
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Historical examples
Unaddressed protests may grow and widen into civil resistance, dissent, activism, riots, insurgency, revolts, and political or social revolution. Some examples of protests include:
Protestant Reformation in Northern Europe in the early 16th century
North America in the 1770s (American Revolution)
Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, an anti-government protest by several hundred soldiers of the Continental Army
1789 French Revolution
1803 Haitian Revolution, the first successful black revolution against slavery
1866 Haymarket affair, a labor protest in Chicago led by the Anarchist Movement violently dispersed by the explosion of a bomb
New York shirtwaist strike of 1909
Mohandas Gandhi's 1930 Salt March to protest the colonial salt tax in India
1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade, part of the civil rights movement.
1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a key moment in the Civil rights movement
Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965, part of the Civil Rights Movement
Protests against the Vietnam War
Mexico 68
1968 Takeover of Vanha in Helsinki, Finland
Forms
A protest can take many forms.
Willingness to participate is influenced by individuals' ties within social networks. Social connections can affect both the spread of factual information about a protest and social pressures on participants.
Willing to participate will also vary depending on the type of protest.
Likelihood that someone will respond to a protest is also affected by group identification, and by the types of tactics involved.
The Dynamics of Collective Action project and the Global Nonviolent Action Database are two of the leading data collection efforts attempting to capture information about protest events. The Dynamics of Collective Action project considers the repertoire of protest tactics (and their definitions) to include:
Rally or Demonstration: Demonstration, rally, or similar protest, without reference to marching or walking in a picket line or standing in a vigil. Reference to speeches, speakers, singing, or preaching, often verified by the presence of PA sound equipment and sometimes by a platform or stage. Ordinarily will include worship services, speeches, briefings.
March: Reference to moving from one location to another; to distinguish from rotating or walking in a circle with picket signs (which is a picket).
Vigil: Most vigils have banners, placards, or leaflets so that people passing by, despite silence from participants, can be informed about the purpose of the vigil.
Picket: The modal (most common) activity is picketing; there may be references to a picket line, informational picketing, or holding signs; "carrying signs and walking around in a circle". Holding signs, placards, or banners is not the defining criteria; rather, it is holding or carrying those items and walking a circular route, a phrase sometimes surprisingly found in the permit application.
Typology
Thomas Ratliff and Lori Hall have devised a typology of six broad activity categories of the protest activities described in the Dynamics of Collective Action project.
Literal, symbolic, aesthetic and sensory – Artistic, dramaturgical, and symbolic displays (street theater, dancing, etc.) including use of images, objects, graphic art, musical performances, or vocal/auditory exhibitions (speech-making, chanting, etc.). May also include tactile exchanges of information (petitions, leaflets, etc.) and the destruction of objects of symbolic or political value. Highly visible and most diverse category of activity; impacts on society (police response, media focus, impact on potential allies, etc.) often are underestimated.
Solemnity and the sacred – Vigils, prayer, or rallies, in the form of religious service, candlelight vigils, cross or coffin bearing etc. All directly related to the Durkheimian "sacred", or some form of religious or spiritual practice, belief, or ideology. Events where sacred activity is the primary focus are rarely responded to by police with force or presence. Solemnity usually provides a distinct quietness or stillness, changing the energy, description, and interpretation of such events.
Institutional and conventional – Institutionalized activity or activity highly dependent on formal political processes and social institutions (press conferences, lawsuits, lobbying, etc.). Often conflated with non-confrontational and nonviolent activities in research as the other or reference category. More acceptable because it operates, to some degree, within the system. Historically contentious issue in regard to the practice of protest due to this integration within the system.
Movement in space – Marches or parades (processional activities) from one spatio-temporal location to another, with beginning or ending places sometimes chosen for symbolic reasons. Picket lines often used in labor strikes but can be used by non-labor actors but the key differences between picket and processionals are the distance of movement. Events that take the form of a procession are logistically much more difficult to police (even if it is for the safety of protesters). Marches are some of the largest events in this period.
Civil disobedience – Withholding obligations, sit-ins, blockades, shop-ins, occupations, bannering, "camping", etc., are all specific activities which constitute the tactical form of civil disobedience. In some way, these activities directly or technically break the law. Usually given most attention by researchers, media, and authorities. Often conflated with violence and threats because of direct action and confrontational nature, but should serve as a distinct category of action (both in the context of tactical and strategic planning and in the control of activity).
Written demonstration
Written evidence of political or economic power, or democratic justification may also be a way of protesting.
Petitions
Letters (to show political power by the volume of letters): Used by some letter writing campaigns, especially those with a form letter that supporters are given to sign
Civil disobedience demonstrations
Any protest could be civil disobedience if a "ruling authority" says so, but the following are usually civil disobedience demonstrations:
Public nudity or topfree (to protest indecency laws or as a publicity stunt for another protest such as a war protest) or animal mistreatment (e.g. PETA's campaign against fur). See also Nudity and protest.
Sit-in
Photobombing – disrupting an event being broadcast live
Raasta roko – people blocking auto traffic with their bodies
Silent protest
Lebenslaute
As a residence
Peace camp
Formation of a tent city
Camp for Climate Action
Destructive
Hatchetation
Vandalism – Smashing windows or spraying graffiti is used as a form of riot, and is sometimes employed by black bloc groups.
Riot – Protests or attempts to end protests sometimes lead to rioting.
Looting – stealing goods from establishments or businesses (takes place during riots)
Self-immolation
Suicide
Hunger strike
Bombing
Non-destructive
Silent protest – protests or parades in which participants are nonviolent and usually silent in an attempt to avoid violent confrontation with military or police forces. This tactic was effectively used during the Arab Spring in cities such as Tehran and Cairo.
Direct action
Civil resistance
Nonviolent resistance
Occupation
Public shaming
Against a government
Tax resistance
Conscientious objector
Flag desecration
Anti-war movements
Port Militarization Resistance – protests which attempt to prevent military cargo shipments
Against a planning application or development
NIMBY ("not in my backyard") – protest by residents of an area against a development in the area they see as undesirable
By government employees
Bully pulpit
Judicial activism
Filibuster
Job action
Strike action
Walkout
Work-to-rule
In sports
U.S. national anthem kneeling protests
By management
Lockout
By tenants
Rent strike
By consumers
Boycott
Consumer Court
By ordinary citizens as bank depositors
Organized politically-motivated bank run such as Reform Act 1832
Information
Informative letters, letter writing campaigns, letters to the editor
Teach-in
Zine
Soap-boxing
Civil disobedience to censorship
Samizdat (distributing censored materials)
Protest graffiti
By Internet and social networking
Blogging and social networking have become effective tools to register protest and grievances. Protests can express views or news, and use viral networking to reach out to thousands of people. With protests on the rise from the U.S. election season of 2016 going into 2017, protesters became aware that using their social media during a protest could make them an easier target for government surveillance.
Literature, art and culture
Culture jamming
Against religious or ideological institutions
Recusancy
Book burning
Protest policing
In the UK, in a four day period in 2023, policing data showed that 67 protests occurred, requiring 622 police officers to attend. The estimated financial cost of this was £140,346. Protests impact the communities they occur within and policing these costs a considerable amount.
Economic effects against companies
A study of 342 US protests covered by The New York Times newspaper from 1962 to 1990 showed that such public activities usually affected the company's publicly traded stock price. The most intriguing aspect of the study's findings revealed that the amount of media coverage the event received was of the most importance to this study. Stock prices fell an average of one-tenth of a percent for every paragraph printed about the event.