#Spread this information via social media or email. Get it out there. Let's keep our protestors as safe as we can.

* **Always assume a protest will become a riot.**

* **Have no expectation your rights will be respected or that you will not be targeted.**

* Assume that anything you do or say can and will be used as evidence against you, regardless whether it is legal.

* **Carry sterile gauze, bandages, rubber gloves, and whatever other medical supplies you can comfortably carry.** Other protestors may need medical attention, and be unable to escape the police cordon to reach a hospital. If you have any medical experience, use red electrical tape to mark a large, clear cross on your person to let other protestors know you are capable of working as a medic. EMTs: Try to work in pairs. Have a system in place to contact one another for backup and assistance. Carry Walkie Talkies, not phones.

* **If you are carrying a sign, make the handle out of stout wood or metal pipe that you can use to defend yourself if it becomes important to do so.** Make the sign easily removable so the handle can be swung, but not so easily removable that the handle is obviously a weapon. A sign made from stiff material with arm loops attached can be used as a shield once removed.

* **Wear a leather or Kevlar jacket.** This will provide a small degree of protection from stabbing or impact.

* **Wear gloves.** They will protect your hands from injury and prevent you from leaving fingerprints that could be used as evidence against you in the event a riot occurs.

* **Wear or carry safety goggles.** If you are blinded by gas or projectiles, you become a sitting duck for violent members of both sides.

* **Wear or carry a helmet.** Getting hit with rocks hurts. Getting hit with nightsticks hurts more.

* **Do not stand near police lines or National Guard lines.** if you can help it. If they begin making arrests, those closest to them will be the first arrested. If they open fire, they'll be the first to die.

* **DO NOT TAKE YOUR CELL PHONE.** Purchase a prepaid flip phone in case of emergencies. They can be obtained for ten dollars at Best Buy or other electronics stores. Carry it with the battery REMOVED. Cell data can and will be used to track protestors. There will be multiple temporary towers set up around DC to triangulate cell phone locations.

* **Do not open carry.** If violence breaks out, having a firearm makes you a target for lethal force.

* **Do not wear a mask.** Carry a bandanna or something else that you can use to cover your face if you are gassed or need to hide, but do not carry anything that exists specifically for that purpose. If you do cover your face for any reason, assume that you will be arrested if captured. DC mask law is not your friend, and will be used as justification for arrests. The following is the relevant section of laws relating to masked protest in Washington DC. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

§ 22-3312.03. Wearing hoods or masks. (a) No person or persons over 16 years of age, while wearing any mask, hood, or device whereby any portion of the face is hidden, concealed, or covered as to conceal the identity of the wearer, shall:

(1) Enter upon, be, or appear upon any lane, walk, alley, street, road highway, or other public way in the District of Columbia;

(2) Enter upon, be, or appear upon or within the public property of the District of Columbia; or

(3) Hold any manner of meeting or demonstration.

(b) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section apply only if the person was wearing the hood, mask, or other device:

(1) With the intent to deprive any person or class of persons of equal protection of the law or of equal privileges and immunities under the law, or for the purpose of preventing or hindering the constituted authorities of the United States or the District of Columbia from giving or securing for all persons within the District of Columbia equal protection of the law;

(2) With the intent, by force or threat of force, to injure, intimidate, or interfere with any person because of his or her exercise of any right secured by federal or District of Columbia laws, or to intimidate any person or any class of persons from exercising any right secured by federal or District of Columbia laws;

(3) With the intent to intimidate, threaten, abuse, or harass any other person;

(4) With the intent to cause another person to fear for his or her personal safety, or, where it is probable that reasonable persons will be put in fear for their personal safety by the defendant’s actions, with reckless disregard for that probability; or