SAFETY GUIDE FOR CLEVELAND PROTESTS TOMORROW

[A THREAD]

From Zach Germaniuk, a lawyer.

"216-563-1781. My office line for tomorrow in Cleveland.
Been attending protests since 2005, so a few tips I've learned over 15 years, backed up also by years of law practice, that i have not seen in either the NLG or ACLU guides (except for #5)

1) this is not a fashion show. Identifying marks of any kind will be used to ID you and facial recognition tech will be used. Dress anonymously and with an eye for safety, possibly from projectiles. Mask, gloves, boots, and long sleeves, preferably solid color hoodies.

2) this is not a photo shoot. Not the time to take selfies or to post up where you are or how awesome you are. In fact, I'd recommend turning your phone OFF or Airplane mode. There will be legal observers there, let us do the documenting.

3) watch for agent provocatuers. Anyone who is showing up and trying to pressure you into violence, and might be dressed just a little too perfectly, is more than likely a plant. Keep an eye on them and firmly re-state that you are here for justice and solidarity, not violence-

anytime they try to convince you to try and do something like smash a store window, esp. of a small business. Agent provocateurs will love to throw communist and anarchist slogans in your face to try and get you to do this. -

Do not give in. Any economic system is a system, not a storefront, and doctors don't cure a disease by breaking someone's leg.

4) be there for each other. Its best to go to these things in a group, and meet up BEFORE. Also best to get there by means other than a car, because well, license plates are tracked and you basically lose all privacy rights in a vehicle. Carry water. Water is good.

5) Interactions with the police are a game of cat and mouse. surprise! you are the mouse. Ohio has a stop and identify statute. If stopped and asked to identify yourself, you have to do so. After you have, the next and only words out of your mouth are: 'am i free to leave?'.

If yes, walk away. BRISKLY. Do not say some dumbass shit. If no, that means you are being legally detained but have not been arrested and the next and only words out of your mouth are: 'am i being arrested?'.

If yes, then immediately shut up and ask for a lawyer. Thats it. No matter what kind of interrogation jiujitsu they throw at you. If no, cycle back to 'am i being arrested'. Be a broken record.

***) special tip for white esp. white male protesters: congrats, you won our society's pigment lottery. That means you statistically have the least likelihood of facing serious repercussions if shit does in fact go down.

You therefore have a special responsibility to make sure the folks who have more to fear than you don't get hurt. But know also: this isn't about you. This isn't your chance to show off how woke you may think you are.

This is about trying to reset 400 years of what people who look like you and me have done to people who don't look like you and me on this patch of dirt, and to stand up to what is by any objective standard the emerging fascism of the 21st century.

Sorry for the long read. Stay safe out there, and Heroyam Slav'a!"