What makes a protest turn violent? Experts cite aggressive police, deep anger and more

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : "People are saying, 'I've never been moved to action before, but now I feel like I have to,'" said Lisa Gilbert, copresident of advocacy group Public Citizen, also among the event organizers.
53% : "It's like setting fire to tinder -- it's very difficult to bring groups back under control.
48% : "This overlap could increase the potential of protests being targeted," she said.
47% : However, she noted Saturday's protests will overlap with a "day of action" planned by White supremacist group White Lives Matter.
43% : Organizers say they're prepared to ensure the day's events avoid violence, even as political rhetoric characterizes demonstrators as being aligned with terrorist forces.
43% : " Lewis, of Washington State, said protests are more likely to escalate when authorities act aggressively, or when they have done so in the past.
41% : Hundreds of thousands of No Kings Day demonstrators are expected to take to the streets for what some believe will be the largest day of protest in modern U.S. history.
39% : " While protest is an American hallmark, history shows demonstrations aren't always free of violence, from the clashes of the 1960s demanding equality and an end to war to the outbursts of the 2010s and early 2020s decrying police brutality nationwide.
39% : "If you have arms, it raises the risk," said Roubadeh Kishi, who served as director of research and innovation for the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, which compiled the report with Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.
39% : About 8% of June's No Kings protests drew counter protesters, Kishi said -- four times the typical rate for protests.
37% : " Armed actors are another factor in protests becoming violent: A 2021 study found armed protests were six times more likely to become violent than those without guns present.
37% : Now chief research officer for the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University in New Jersey, a nonpartisan effort tracking and mitigating political violence in the U.S., Kishi noted June's unintentional shooting of a protester in Utah by an armed safety volunteer targeting a man who had pointed his rifle at demonstrators.
36% : This weekend's demonstrations mark the second wave of "No Kings" protests against President Donald Trump's administration, as well as to celebrate First Amendment rights.

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