thumb|A rioter on top of a [[Toronto Police Service cruiser in flames during G20 Toronto summit, June 2010]]

Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, civil strife, or turmoil, is a public disturbance involving violent acts by an assemblage of persons, which causes an immediate danger or results in damage to property or injury to persons. Civil disorder includes acts of civil disobedience. Disorder may occur when the general populace or some sector of it is aroused in the cause of effecting change or reform of government policy, or amelioration of what is perceived as a social ill or inequality. Law enforcement and security forces are often called on to maintain public order, tranquility or normality.

Civil disorder includes protests and demonstrations, acts of civil disobedience, and blockades of roads and occupations of buildings. Acts of civil disorder may begin and end peacefully; they may start out peacefully and become violent, sometimes in response to actions taken by law enforcement forces or lack of attention by government officials. In cases such as some riots, they may be violent at their inception.

They may be targeted at garnering attention from the public to draw them onside in a dispute. They may be done in hopes of ratchetting up the level of public fear or uncertainty and disruption of normal life, thus making the status quo untenable or unattractive. They may be unplanned and arise on the spur of the moment and act as a release of pent-up emotion; they may be planned in advance with careful consideration of tactics and the goal in mind.

Causes

Various things may cause civil disorder. Sometimes there is a single cause; sometimes a combination of multiple causes. Mostly civil disorder arises from political grievances (such as opposition to an oppressive or authoritarian state), feeling of victimization due to economic inequality, or other forms of social discord. Historically many incidences of civil disorder have been the result of long-standing oppression by a group of people over another group. Civil disorder has in history arisen from economic disputes, political disagreements (such as opposition to oppressive or tyrannical government forces), religious disagreements, racial oppression and social discord arising from poverty or lack of opportunity.

Incidences of civil disorder arising from political grievances include a variety of events, ranging from a simple protest to mass civil disobedience or acts of violence. These events are sometimes spontaneous and sometimes planned. Even if they start out peaceful, The events may turn violent especially if participants and law enforcers overreact to each other's actions.

Crowd

Formation

thumb|[[Tear gas used on students in Altamira, Caracas.]]

Radicals may exploit a crowd's anger in order to weaponize them, spurring the crowd to act violently and become a vengeful mob. Following that, radicals may then direct the mob's aggression and resentment towards a specific target.

According to the U.S. Code, a person is engaged in civil disorder if he or she -

Canada

In Canada, "public order emergency" is defined under c. 22 p. II s. 16 the Emergencies Act as

Section 2 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act provides, in part:

The Emergencies Act authorizes the Governor in Council to declare a state of public order emergency and provides the Government of Canada with extraordinary powers to respond to public order emergencies. The Emergencies Act has been invoked only once, in response to the Canada convoy protest in 2022.

See also

References

  • Revolution '67 Film website - Documentary about the Newark, New Jersey race riots of 1967
  • Brazil uprising points to rise of leaderless networks