Protests are perfectly legal and most democracies allow it as a means with which most people can express their distaste, or make demands for certain things. The recent End SARS protest that we witnessed in Nigeria was a major motivation for placing this film on the chopping block. The deaths and destruction of properties were not exactly the most fun thing to watch and one could easily ask if it was the right thing to do.

Our analysis of this film has nothing to do with who is right or wrong but to take a critical look at that little space where a protest begins to morph into a riot. I called it a little space because most times, this is the key igniter that people may not pay attention to.

Are there means by which peaceful protests may be conducted without some kind of eruption? is there some surefire method or formula for which peaceful protests can be successfully conducted?

This documentary gives a plate-by-plate description, articulating the different phases with which a riot precipitates from a peaceful protest. But amidst any gathering, you will always have a mixed multitude. There are people who have genuine interests in improving society, while you have those that have given up on society and just want everything to burn. Sadly, you will have these two groups quietly coexisting, and in a riot, you really can’t tell the difference between those with genuine intentions and the miscreants.

So, let’s create another scenario; let’s say there are no miscreants and everyone had genuine intentions but society has demanded a lot from the leadership without any answers, and this has happened repeatedly over time without notable changes. Anger accumulates over time and in most cases will lead to outbursts especially when gentle pleas yield no results.

The beating of Rodney King, may in itself, not necessarily be the main cause of anger. Bus as with other protests, people have come to the point that they feel that previous protests as regards the same topic caused no change, hence the reason that violence seems to be the next expression.

Anger has never helped anybody, the simple analogy I give in our discussion about the wife who breaks the plate will only make us realize that the plate will still have to be replaced at some point; which means money leaving the family’s coffers. Destruction only sets people back. Sadly, if repeated demands with peaceful protests remain unheard, It might be a tricky situation to stop a protest from mutating.