If you go to a protest about Roe v Wade, make sure you remember these things.
The police are not your friend. They are not here to help, and they do not care who you are or what you’re doing. If you look like you might be a protester, they will fuck you up indiscriminately. Do not speak to them or interact with them in any capacity whatsoever.
If they arrest you, and they do not read you your Miranda rights, you still have the right to invoke them. But you cannot sue them anymore for not reading you your rights, because of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Invoke your right to silence. Do not speak with them unless you are asking for a lawyer. Not even small talk. Demand a lawyer, and then shut the fuck up completely.
Turn your phone’s location services/data/Face ID/fingerprint/etc. off before you go. Use only encrypted apps to communicate.
If you’re marching, cover your face. Cover up any and all identifiable features on your body, period. Tie up your hair and put it under a hat. Cover up tattoos and piercings. Wear all black, if possible. Do not let them identify you on camera.
Bring food and water. Especially water, in case of tear gas or pepper spray. Use it to thoroughly rinse your eyes and anyone else’s.
Along that same line, do not wear contacts.
Bring an umbrella. It’s a good deflector for yourself and those standing behind you. Use it as a shield.
Bring earplugs. Cops use what are essentially ‘sound guns’ at some protests, and they can cause permanent hearing damage.
There will be suspiciously convenient piles of construction materials such as bricks, rebar, etc., near where you’re marching. There is a decent chance that this will happen, and it has already happened multiple times during multiple different protests. It is bait. Do not use it. Do not look at the bricks, do not touch the bricks, do not pick up the bricks, do not even think about throwing a brick. The police will use that as probable cause to arrest you for rioting.
Do not go alone, and do not let the police separate you from the main group of protesters. This will leave you in an extremely dangerous situation. Stay with the group at all costs. The police prey on stragglers.
If you go with friends, make sure to exchange important emergency information with them beforehand in case any of you are arrested. Do not leave any of your friends behind.
Leave that same information with someone who is not going to the protest to be your jail contact, in case you are arrested and your friends are also arrested.
If you make it to a corner or intersection, turn quickly. Police will use those areas to try and break the group apart. Get through those areas as quickly as you can.
To keep the group together, go with the flow of traffic. If you need to lose the police, go against the flow of traffic where their cars cannot follow you.
If you are standing at a police barricade, do not put your hands on the barricade. They will hit your fingers with batons, and they do not care if they break your fingers. Instead, lock hands or lock arms with other protesters beside you. If you hold their hands, do not interlock your fingers together. This will get your fingers broken if the police hit it with a baton.
This isn’t a complete list of advice, but it was everything I could think of at the moment. Please use it to stay safe and use your First Amendment rights to speak and assemble freely.
