Contesting Authority: How political protesters perceive their interactions with police officers

• In Event: The Many Faces of Policing

Abstract

Recently in Canada there has been renewed public attention to police tactics at political protests. For this project a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with activists in the Greater Vancouver Area. These activists perceived an ongoing tension between the need to protect crowds and the desire to cause crowds to disperse, which centred around themes of ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate’ protests and causes. This made protesters feel as though the protection of their rights to expression is considered optional, that they were more frequently targeted by police during protests, and less likely to have their safety protected. As this sense of unfairness grows it primes activists for more adversarial, mistrustful relationship with police officers. This project ultimately suggests that the current handling of political protests and activist perceptions of police procedures produces the kinds of anti-authoritarian attitudes and criminal behaviour that police are ostensibly trying to prevent.

Author

• Stephanie Margaret Shea, Simon Fraser University