Protest

A protest—also known as a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance—is a public show of objection, disapproval, or dissent aimed at a political advantage. It can be understood as a cooperative act, where many people join together, sharing the potential costs and risks of participation. Protests come in many forms, ranging from individual statements to large-scale political demonstrations. Their goal may be to sway public opinion or government policy, or to take direct action to bring about change themselves. When protests are part of a systematic, peaceful, nonviolent campaign that uses both pressure and persuasion to achieve a specific objective, they go beyond simple protest and may be called civil resistance or nonviolent resistance.

Governments sometimes restrict self-expression and protest through policies like requiring permits, as well as through economic conditions, religious orthodoxy, social structures, or media monopolies. One common official response is the use of riot police. Observers have noted that protest policing has become more militarized in many countries, with authorities deploying armored vehicles and snipers against protesters. When such restrictions are in place, protests may turn into open civil disobedience, take more subtle forms of resistance, or spill over into areas like culture and emigration.

A protest can itself become the target of a counter-protest, where counter-demonstrators show support for the person, policy, or action being protested. Protesters and counter-protesters may sometimes clash violently. One study found that nonviolent activism during the U.S. civil rights movement tended to generate favorable media coverage and shifts in public opinion focused on the issues organizers raised, while violent protests tended to produce negative media coverage and a public desire to restore law and order.

Unaddressed protests can grow and widen into civil resistance, dissent, activism, riots, insurgency, revolts, and political or social revolution. Historical examples include the Protestant Reformation in Northern Europe in the early 16th century; the American Revolution in North America in the 1770s; the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783; the French Revolution of 1789; the Haitian Revolution of 1803; the Haymarket affair of 1866; the New York shirtwaist strike of 1909; Gandhi's 1930 Salt March; the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade; the 1963 March on Washington; the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches; protests against the Vietnam War; Mexico 68; the 1968 takeover of Vanha in Helsinki; the 1969 Stonewall riots; the People Power Revolution in the Philippines; the 1976 Thammasat University shootings in Thailand; the Solidarity movement in Poland from 1980 to 1989; the June Democratic Struggle in South Korea in 1987; the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989; the Alexanderplatz demonstrations in November 1989; ACT-UP AIDS protests in the late 1980s and early 1990s; the 1998 Reformasi protests in Jakarta; Japanese Canadians protesting their dispossession; the 1999 Seattle WTO protests; anti-globalization protests in Prague in 2000; the S11 anti-World Economic Forum protests in Melbourne in 2000; anti-globalization protests in Genoa in July 2001; the 15 February 2003 Iraq War protests; anti-nuclear protests; the 2007 Bersih rally; 2010 Thai political protests; 2011 Iranian protests; the Arab Spring; the Impact of the Arab Spring; Occupy Wall Street; Bersih Malaysia protests; the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Turkey; the June 2013 Egyptian protests; the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine from November 2013 to February 2014; Black Lives Matter-led protests on 13 July 2013; the Sunflower Student Movement; the Add the Words protests in Idaho in 2014; the 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella Movement; 2016 South Korean protests; 2017 Jallikattu protests; 2017–2019 Romanian protests; Dakota Access Pipeline protests; 2018 Tommy Robinson protests; 2018 Sadiq Khan protests; March for Our Lives; the 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution; 2018–2019 Sudanese protests; 2018–2020 Serbian protests; 2019 Venezuelan protests; 2019 Indonesian protests; 2019 Bolivian protests; 2019–20 Hong Kong protests; Citizenship Amendment Act protests; 2019–20 Lebanese protests; 2019–2021 Iraqi protests; George Floyd protests; 2020–21 Belarusian protests; protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic; COVID-19 protests and riots in Serbia; 2020 Thai protests; 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest; 2020–2021 United States election protests; Mahsa Amini protests; protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Peruvian protests from 2022 to 2023; Gaza war protests; the 2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupation; the July Uprising; 2024–present Serbian anti-corruption protests; protests against Donald Trump; protests against the second Trump administration; and 2025–2026 Iranian protests.

A protest can take many forms. Willingness to participate is influenced by individuals' ties within their communities.