When Berto Aguayo heard that Chicago protests started turning violent over the weekend, he called a few dozen people to meet in front of a colorful mural in a South Side neighborhood.
“Number one, we are here to peacefully protect small businesses,” Aguayo — co-founder of Increase the Peace, a community organizing group in the city — told the small crowd.
Some groups, such as Black Lives Matter, have years of experience protesting and use training and proven strategies: fluorescent vests or colored ribbons to designate legal aid, volunteer medical help or peacekeepers who can try to diffuse spats on the spot.
Other people are creating more informal networks as protests pop up in new corners of their cities and states daily, with many attendees who’ve never protested before.
Organizers with newly formed Coalition of Queen City occasionally stopped the crowd to make sure the volunteer marshals remained at the front, protester Abbey Smith said.
