HOW TO SURVIVE A PEACEFUL PROTEST

It is easier to write it here, so I will put the how to’s here. 

We all know what’s happening in the country. Things might get grittier just like it does with every protest all around the world. Things may get out of hand.

So, “Frances, how do I survive a peaceful protest?” you ask.

BEFORE THE PROTEST

This is for before you leave home to head to wherever the protest will hold.

1) Please do not go alone. Have a friend or colleague or family member you know going there too. 

Going alone? When you get there, gum body to someone or a group of people there. Introduce yourself.

2) Lock your house or office doors and windows. leave your car behind or far away from the protest grounds and walk to the protest. If in the case of looting, which occurs sometimes because there are criminal minds, your house and office are safe. Then your car does not get burnt or mutilated with or without you in it.

3) Dress right for the protest: avoid makeup (if gas is used, you will hurt badly), wear comfortable clothing from head to toe that you can run, jump and sweat in. 

Footwear is very important. No sneakers? wear comfy shoes but please no open toed slippers. LEAVE THAT SLIPPERS, FLIP FLOP OR WHATCHAMACALLIT AT HOME! Please, no heels. This ain’t the time. 

4) Pack supplies: Water, tissue, snacks, food etc. Have a spare for others if you can.

5) First aid supply: as little as you can find, even if it’s methylated spirit.

6) Don’t forget ID: go with a form of identification. Also write down your blood group and a next of kin’s number and drop it in your pocket with the ID.

 Then an ID might get missing, so write your name, phone number of next of kin and your blood group with a permanent marker on your arm or chest as back up ID. (God forbid things go sideways).

7) Inform others not going for the protest that you are. Give phone number of the friend you are going with to your family or friends. If you are alone and make a friend there(see No.1), forward their number to family or anyone not there. (Yep! Prepare for the worst)

8) If you are a civil servant or can’t have your face out there. Go undercover (scarf, glasses, cap etc) because you are not the only one that owns a phone to take pictures and videos. Everyone will be doing that there and uploading. 

AT THE PROTEST

1) Be alert and present. 

2) Make sure you take note of all the entries and exits. You need to know what direction to go, if you need to escape.

3) Be mindful of your phone and other property. Some come to steal. (Sad but true).

4) If there are security personnel like the police present, do not go hitting them or mouthing off right in their faces and all that. We get it, we are angry but it is a peaceful protest. The police man who has a family and a life to protect too might feel threatened. 

5) Do not disengage from your friends and your people, no matter what. Always move together. 

6) If you are female, don’t go straying off alone with a guy you just met or going off by yourself to find a place to pee. (Better safe than sorry.)

7) You have the right to take pictures, even if it is of police officers but don’t shove it in their faces as you do. It is a peaceful protest, right?

8) Pictures and videos are your friends, take them, upload if needed.

9) If arrested, PLEASE, do not resist arrest or mouth off. Go calmly but make sure others around you know and have your name and next of kin’s phone number. Shout that instead. SHOUT YOUR NAME! “MY NAME IS FRANCES OKEKE! MY MUM’S NUMBER IS……..” Shout it repeatedly. Be smart not angry, right now.

10) Keep calm and help others keep calm. If they hit or provoke the police, they endanger your life and others. (The police have rights to arrest members of a peaceful protest they think aren’t being peaceful.) Anger breeds anger. It is a peaceful protest, so be peaceful. Don’t give them the power. 

11) Obey your intuition abi instincts. If you sense it is time to go home, you are not being unpatriotic. You live to protest another day.

IF TEAR GAS IS SPRAYED 

1) Please do not scratch or itch wherever it made contact with your skin. 

2) Take off your clothes if it was on your clothes. Pour water on you, first.

3) If in your face or eyes. Use water and not your hands. I hope you remembered the ‘before the protest’ bit and avoided makeup. Do not say Frances did not warn you.

4) If it is someone else, don’t touch the affected part, help them get water. “Frances, what about handkerchief or mineral to clean it?” WATER!!! It is chemical na.

IF THERE IS A STAMPEDE OR A CROWD RUSH

1) Hold on tightly to your friend as you go. I don’t mean by the hand. There is safety in numbers, very easy to push a single person down but not two or more. GUM BODY!

2) Stay calm and keep those fine eyes open.

3) Truthfully, running is not safe. You will get pushed down, so STAND! Don’t push against the crowd or away. STAND!

4) Stiffen your body, so you don’t get thrown down. Stand firm.

5) Save energy by not shouting, pushing or anything. You will need that energy.

6) Put your hands up to protect your sides. Put ‘em up like a boxer. (Anthony Joshua style). You could get choked and jabbed to death from people hitting your sides. Ouch!

7) If your hand can get to someone on the floor, whose hand is up for help,  help the person up whilst still standing firm.

8) If people are running towards you, don’t turn around and back them to stand. That is recipe to get pushed down and trampled to death.

9) Move with the flow not against. Said that already, right?

10) In some, if there is no space and it is like a wave, (think BBN 2019 auditions) stay upright and you might be pushed forward. Once there is a lull, it is time to make a push out. Move between people. You can’t get out by pushing people. There is always space, BETWEEN people.

11) Hope you don’t have a wig on? If you do, take it off ASAP, you might get dragged down with it or it gets stolen (kikikiki!) “Frances, haba!”. Trust me, wigs get stolen too. The real owner might have been looking at you and saw the opportunity to do ‘baggage reclaim’. LOL!

12) Look for a tree, car, building or anything you can climb into or onto.

IF GUNSHOTS ARE FIRED

1) Drop to the floor! Kneel if you are scared of being trampled on but lay low, better on your belly and roll. The aim of the gunfire is people level so go low. I repeat, DROP AND ROLL! You might not know the direction. 

2) I don’t think the zig zag running will work here. 

3) Standing will kill you. Yep! I had to repeat that. DROP!

4) If there is a gutter, dive into one. Not face down please. 

5) If the shots are being fired into the air as a warning. TAKE COVER! A bullet that goes up, must come back down. A lot of people have died from this then the officer says, “I fired into the air.”

Almost forgot, take note of any police officer that misbehaves. If you can't get a picture, get his or her name from his or her uniform.

There is still Corona, so mask up, protect yourself. 

Thank you for reading my thoughts. Stay safe, calm and alert! Make it peaceful!

 #ENDSARS #ENDCORRUPTION #REFORMTHEPOLICEFORCE #NEWNIGERIA #PRONIGERIA #NIGERIAOFOURDREAMS