Peaceful protesters being harassed by non peaceful protesters. (how would you handle it?)

[catholictiger]

ok so this is actually based on a real situation this happened last weekend at the march for life.

But imagine that you are group leader of a group of 100 pilgrimages. Your plan for the day is to pray a rosary at the planned parenthood then pray one in front of the white house, then one at the holocaust museum then tour the holocaust museum. You show up to the Planned Parenthood (i will abbreviate it PP from now on). Then by chance a couple of Occupy protesters show up. They start to laugh at you call you things inappropriate things, keep in mind these pilgrims are mostly high schoolers, and then they bring 4 more of their friends and they start chanting stuff at you.

So first question at this point what would you do?

you finish praying the first 2 decades then you start to walk to the white house, they end up following you and continue to chant and curse at you and such. Many things teens shouldn’t hear and such. You decide to pass up the white house and just go to the Museum. You are going to stop about half way to let all the kids use the rest room. This is where things start to get heated. While all this is going on a couple of cops begin to investigate, and they stop at the bathroom site.

couple of questions here.

When walking from PP to the bathroom what would you do?
When things started to get heated what would you do?
Would you ask the cops if there was a way to separate the two groups.

so you continue from the bathrooms and continue to walk to the holocaust museum. When you get there is a long line of people going into it and you suspect that this is where they will leave off from you. But they don’t a small handful of them go into the museum as well.

How would you handle a situation if these people tried to talk to the teenagers?
would you see them following you into the building as a threat?

more general questions?

would you try and talk to them at all?
would you try as a group respond to what they are doing?
what actions could lead to big tensions between the two groups, that could result in yelling matches if not worse?
if given the opportunity would your file a complaint or press charges if this was the only way to stop this group from following you?

again as I said this happened to me this past weekend. I wasn’t the group leader, but this is kinda the way I want to pose this question. I had no position of authority in the group so I had no say in what was decided. But if you were put in a situation like this what would your response be.

sometime down the line I’ll post what actually happen, and how the situation answered the questions I posed

 

[Newbie2]

ok so this is actually based on a real situation this happened last weekend at the march for life.

But imagine that you are group leader of a group of 100 pilgrimages. Your plan for the day is to pray a rosary at the planned parenthood then pray one in front of the white house, then one at the holocaust museum then tour the holocaust museum. You show up to the Planned Parenthood (i will abbreviate it PP from now on). Then by chance a couple of Occupy protesters show up. They start to laugh at you call you things inappropriate things, keep in mind these pilgrims are mostly high schoolers, and then they bring 4 more of their friends and they start chanting stuff at you.

So first question at this point what would you do?

Ignore them.

you finish praying the first 2 decades then you start to walk to the white house, they end up following you and continue to chant and curse at you and such. Many things teens shouldn’t hear and such. You decide to pass up the white house and just go to the Museum. You are going to stop about half way to let all the kids use the rest room. This is where things start to get heated. While all this is going on a couple of cops begin to investigate, and they stop at the bathroom site.

couple of questions here.

When walking from PP to the bathroom what would you do?
Nothing, just continue on to the bathroom.

When things started to get heated what would you do?

Don’t respond; don 't allow them to rile us.

Would you ask the cops if there was a way to separate the two groups.

Yes, and that they’re disrupting a peaceful prayer march, but I wouldn’t expect them to do much unless there was some pushing/shoving/fisticuffs/throwing things.

so you continue from the bathrooms and continue to walk to the holocaust museum. When you get there is a long line of people going into it and you suspect that this is where they will leave off from you. But they don’t a small handful of them go into the museum as well.

If you’re in the museum to see the stuff in the museum, tell the museum security that they’re bothering you.
How would you handle a situation if these people tried to talk to the teenagers?

I would have prepared them in advance that there will definitely be haters there getting in their faces with all sorts of vile, nasty language. I would remind them that our Lord faced the same and worse.

would you see them following you into the building as a threat? Perhaps.

more general questions?

would you try and talk to them at all? Nope.
would you try as a group respond to what they are doing? Nope. They’re baiting you, hoping for a violent or uncivil response.

what actions could lead to big tensions between the two groups, that could result in yelling matches if not worse? Simply responding to them could start something up.

if given the opportunity would your file a complaint or press charges if this was the only way to stop this group from following you? That would have to be done after the fact; probably not worth it unless you planned to make this a regular event.
again as I said this happened to me this past weekend. I wasn’t the group leader, but this is kinda the way I want to pose this question. I had no position of authority in the group so I had no say in what was decided. But if you were put in a situation like this what would your response be.

As a leader, or someone in your position?

sometime down the line I’ll post what actually happen, and how the situation answered the questions I posed

It should come as no surprise, shock, etc. that when publically showing your faith, you’re going to get slammed. Our Lord told us it would happen. Preparing yourself for the inevitable onslaught with prayer is key to not responding the way they would want you to respond.

Preparation is the key to being successful in ignoring the taunts, raw language and hate. It’s not easy to simply not respond.

 

[chepner3]

People who organize protests take on a responsibility to plan for these kinds of situations and train the group on what to do.

Organized protests are supposed to have a communications person (within the group), a publicity person (deal with the press), a legal aid (in case group members are arrested) and security (multiple people). There should be an organizational meeting ahead of time to show the group who has which responsibilities and to discuss how to handle different situations (medical emergencies, harassment by cops, etc). Some of the organization will decide to not risk arrest or can’t participate for some reason. They may chose to donate time or donate cash toward bail of anyone who is arrested.

In protests where I participated, the group would often chose to link arms and protect the more frail members from harm. We shield with our bodies, not our hands. We move, don’t shove.

And yes, often the police are notified when a peaceful protest is going to take place (for your safety) so I probably would have asked for the police to separate the two groups.

 

[runningdude]

Just yesterday, I was teaching a class, where we went over the peaceful protests in Selma, Alabama during the civil rights movement. Here, thousands of teenagers (yes teenagers) were marching peacefully, only to be savagely beaten by the police on route to Montgomery.

Really, the only way to handle a protest is planning and training in advance - training how to respond to taunts and provocations, etc. We’re lucky that the days of (brutal) police interference are mostly over, but there will always be some inherent risk involved.

 

[Bartolome_Casas]

All public protests pose the risk of being invaded by perpetrators of violence.

To me, this is the best reason for staying away from such events, even the March for Life.

I did participate in the March for Life in 1996. Now, all these years later, nothing has changed. I see it as well meaning, but ineffective.

Also, as you point out, it creates a scene for possible violent confrontations.

The March for Life has the feel of a political action.

Jesus and his apostles were entirely apolitical. Some wanted and expected Jesus to be political, but He refused.

Jesus and his apostles did not organize public protests. When we read the Gospels we see what Our Lord’s strategy for dealing with evil was.

 

[catholictiger]

It should come as no surprise, shock, etc. that when publically showing your faith, you’re going to get slammed. Our Lord told us it would happen. Preparing yourself for the inevitable onslaught with prayer is key to not responding the way they would want you to respond.

Preparation is the key to being successful in ignoring the taunts, raw language and hate. It’s not easy to simply not respond.

yeah we ignored them as best we can, unfortunately some of the teens did their chants. But our leader calmed things down so we eventually just ignored them and walked.

People who organize protests take on a responsibility to plan for these kinds of situations and train the group on what to do.

Organized protests are supposed to have a communications person (within the group), a publicity person (deal with the press), a legal aid (in case group members are arrested) and security (multiple people). There should be an organizational meeting ahead of time to show the group who has which responsibilities and to discuss how to handle different situations (medical emergencies, harassment by cops, etc). Some of the organization will decide to not risk arrest or can’t participate for some reason. They may chose to donate time or donate cash toward bail of anyone who is arrested.

In protests where I participated, the group would often chose to link arms and protect the more frail members from harm. We shield with our bodies, not our hands. We move, don’t shove.

And yes, often the police are notified when a peaceful protest is going to take place (for your safety) so I probably would have asked for the police to separate the two groups.

we planned to make it a peaceful protest and in the 7 or so plus years that this trip has happened what happened to us never happened. It was unexpected, but I think the group handled it well. The only thing is that the policy wouldn’t do something if we file a complaint that said disturbers of peace.

one other thing is that we had two guys a teacher, and a priest have one on one or two on one conversations with these guys. Very peaceful, while the rest of the group walked to the museum.

Just yesterday, I was teaching a class, where we went over the peaceful protests in Selma, Alabama during the civil rights movement. Here, thousands of teenagers (yes teenagers) were marching peacefully, only to be savagely beaten by the police on route to Montgomery.

Really, the only way to handle a protest is planning and training in advance - training how to respond to taunts and provocations, etc. We’re lucky that the days of (brutal) police interference are mostly over, but there will always be some inherent risk involved.

there decently is risk involved, and yes the police are less brutal. But they still will not always help them.

 

[Newbie2]

All public protests pose the risk of being invaded by perpetrators of violence.

To me, this is the best reason for staying away from such events, even the March for Life.

I did participate in the March for Life in 1996. Now, all these years later, nothing has changed. I see it as well meaning, but ineffective.

Also, as you point out, it creates a scene for possible violent confrontations.

The March for Life has the feel of a political action.

Jesus and his apostles were entirely apolitical. Some wanted and expected Jesus to be political, but He refused.

Jesus and his apostles did not organize public protests. When we read the Gospels we see what Our Lord’s strategy for dealing with evil was.

Apples and Oranges.

Religion and politics were intertwined in Jesus’ day in a way unlike in modern America.

Personally, if anyone feels that participating in peaceful protests is either ineffective or “risky”, fine. Don’t participate. Pray.

But if we simply become doormats for secular society, we will get run over. Peaceful protests have their place. I’m certain that pro-life pols are encouraged and bolstered when they see such marches. Many, methinks, would lose heart and give up if they became convinced that people don’t care anymore.

As well, may I suggest that “nothing has changed” may not be the case. If there was one single mom who, maybe after seeing or hearing or being told about the right-to-life movement changed her mind and didn’t abort her baby, would that single life saved be worth the flak that the haters dish out to the right-to-life marchers?