Thread by @julia__reiter

I've spent the past ~7 weeks conducting interviews about anti-Covid-measures #protests in #Vienna with
- young adults participating in the protests
- participants in counter-protests
- journalists
- police officers
- affected individuals
a brief 🧵 with some selected results:

1/52 Easter break = a whole week without interviews: seems like a good time to reflect on the 37 I've had so far & drop some research notes here. They're semi-structured interviews with narrative elements.

2/52 Notes refer to my sample and aren't intended to generalize to the whole group!

📍Protesters: Because I was interested in young adults (< 30 y), this sample is particularly different from the population, as the protests here were mostly attended by middle aged/older people.

3/52 Also most protesters that agreed to speak to me were students. That said, some things they had in common: For most of them, the protests were not 'political'; this was due to a narrow definition of politics which does not extend beyond the activities of parties.

4/52 The protests, to them, were something bigger and more valuable than 'politics' because supporters of different parties took part in them.

5/52 The presence of far-right groups was only explicitly welcomed by some of them, but did not bother any of them as they saw this unification of different societal forces for the same cause as something positive.

6/52 At the same time (and, to me, paradoxically), most of them saw no point in the protests; that is, they explained to me that protests changed nothing and attending them did not really make them feel better (though some said they enjoyed the party that would frequently…

7/52 …happen at the end of the Viennese protests), but they kept going 'because it's the only thing you can do', 'because it's just become something I do'.

8/52 While by their own definition the protests were not political, by a broader definition, the protests could be described as the first political action taken by most of them.

9/52 Most reported this being the first time they ever protested or felt the need to get involved in anything.

10/52 In some cases, distrust in media and the political system had predated the protests, in others it developed during the pandemic, but all described never having been personally affected by any issue enough to become politically active before.

11/52 Another interesting relationship that changed for some of them is that with the police: They described police officers as 'cruel', 'arbirtrary' for giving them tickets for not wearing masks when required and in some cases simultaneously stated that they were disappointed…

12/52 …and had lost faith in the police and that it wasn't their fault because they had to follow orders.

13/52 Interestingly, they still believed that negative contact with the police was exaggerated in the media and public discourse when it comes to groups that are politically opposed to the protests.

14/52 📍Counter-protesters: By contrast, these were typically attended by much smaller groups of mostly students, so the sample was much more representative of the population here.

15/52 For none of them, these protests were the beginning of their politicization, and for most it wasn't the beginning of political action, either. They already had clear political values and a strong interest in political participation.

16/52 What changed for many of them was that the political opponent was redefined: Seeing protests of this size and frequency taking place with the participation of far-right groups unchallanged and tolerated led to them perceiving a much broader opponent than previously.

17/52 By contrast to the main protests, the counter protesters were all certain that protesting achieves something - whether that be intimidating the opponent, showing presence and not letting them have the streets, alerting the public to the issue and getting them to show…

18/52 …solidarity, and/or simply making themselves feel better ('empowering', 'emancipating', relieving 'helplessness' and anger in the face of the huge, frequent protests which were affecting large portions of the city.) These distinct goals led to some…

19/52 …ambivalence/contradictory indications about how the counter-protests should present themselves.

20/52 All interviewees recognized/described conflict of objectives between presenting oneself as 'martial', 'threatening' to make it clear to opponents that 'they won't have the streets' unopposed (dressing in black, covering faces, pyro equipment, shouting slogans) and…

21/52 …presenting oneself as approachable and more 'civic, bourgeouis' (as opposed to 'anti-fascist' as a social category, according to interviewees) to get more people from outside the 'radical left' (by self-definition) to join and oppose the anti-Covid-measures protests.

22/52 How much they valued each of these goals and, correspondingly, supported the different forms of presentation varied.

23/52 Interestingly, one participant described that the more martial get-up - walking together dressed in black, colorful smoke trailing behind the group - made them feel 'powerful', paralleling what one police officer told me about walking in formation in the special…

24/52 …protective gear. Speaking of the police: Unlike the protesters, the counter-protesters were not negatively surprised by their contacts with the police because they were already expecting negative contact/thought negatively of them.

25/52 This appeared to be due to a mix of criticism of the institution as a whole that extended to its individual members, personal negative experiences (e.g. from past protests or from interactions experienced by peers), but also misunderstandings/misinformation circulating…

26/52 …(e.g. 'police officers volunteer for protests, so those that come are those that want to hit us' - due to the size and frequency of these protests, all available staff was commandeered, it was barely possible to take vacation days, hence no way to volunteer for anything).

27/52 A prime example of resulting very different interpretations of an event by different groups: Multiple counter-protesters described an event where both the main protest and the counter-protest were mobile and moving towards each other, which resulted in the police getting…

28/52 …between both groups and then circling the counter-protest.

29/52 The counter-protesters described this as an unfair, aggressive act - 'the others are throwing things, we're not, and yet they're circling us', 'they're circling us and looking at us, turning their back on the far-right people', 'they're just circling us because we're the…

30/52 …smaller group, it's so unfair - I wish they'd just admit it.' The same event, described by a police officer: 'Both were moving towards each other, if the protest got to the counter-protest they wouldn't stand a chance because the protest was much larger.

31/52 We can't circle the protest, so we went and circled the counter-protest; we wanted to protect them, but they didn't feel protected, they felt attacked.' Finally, all but one counter-protester I interviewed said that given the opportunity, they'd like to have a one-to-one…

32/52 …conversation with a police officer to exchange experiences at the protests and ask each other questions. Some thought this could help improve relations, while others thought it would not but were simply curious.

33/52 👮‍♀️👮 Police: Protests of this size and frequency were not usual for Austria, not even Vienna; additionally, features of the crowd (larger but also more mixed than usual, making it harder to know what to expect; occasionally including people one knows; many people who are…

34/52 …not from Vienna, resulting in them wandering off/spreading unpredictably) and of the situation (permanent risk of infection for the officers, uncertainty, new task of entering the crowd to fine those violating the mask mandate) resulted in challenges.

35/52 Initially, the protests were simply accompanied, the goal being to avoid conflict and escalation.

36/52 This goal changed due to public discontent with specifically protests going on where large numbers of people were violating pandemic safety measures while the rest of the country was in lockdown.

37/52 In reponse, a unit was designated to make contact with protesters and fine those violating the mask mandate.

38/52 This resulted in a marked increase in workload and stress for those specific officers: Actively approaching protesters to fine them resulted in increased exposure to conflict and physical attacks (e.g. they described being hit with bottles and other objects), particularly…

39/52 …later in the day with increasing consumption of alcohol. It also increased their workload, so much so that several officers reported not having time to take breaks (not even to drink water) for hours on end.

40/52 The workload extends beyond the day of the protest for some members of this unit, as many fines are appealed, resulting in a host of paperwork and court dates they have to attend in their free time. All of this is both physically and psychologically taxing.

41/52 Back to the features of the crowd: When asked what was new about policing these protests as opposed to previous protests and large events, responses included: 'having to go into the crowd / make direct contact and give fines', 'having a crowd that doesn't adhere to rules…

42/52 …and sometimes moves unpredictably', and 'the immediate hostility'. And speaking of hostility:

43/52 🖊️ Journalists: Those who were writers only described being able to move freely in the crowd, while photo-/video-journalists and those who were personally recognizable described being exposed to varying degrees of hostility and taking increasing safety-measures.

44/52 Those measures included, e.g., identifying safe places they could flee to if needed, wearing protective clothing and staying close to the police at all times.

45/52 The effects of these protests on their own lives and work were varied, with some describing no effects - basically, just another day at work -, others describing that this had reaffirmed to them the importance of their profession and strengthened their motivation, and…

46/52 …others still describing that these experiences had shown them that they couldn't put up with this stress forever and would need to think about a different career.

47/52 Regarding the protesters, it was interesting that many journalists I spoke to (this includes both employed and freelance journalists) believed that observation was a better source than engagement - i.e. several explained that there would be no value in trying to talk to…

48/52 …the protesters, a better source of information was listening to their conversations in the crowd and watching them.

49/52 🏁 Finally, affected individuals: This group consists of people who for one reason or another felt particularly affected by the protests and is my smallest group so far (recruitment still in process); it included employees at Covid testing facilities who had been…

50/52 …approached by protesters and members of the Jewish community; the former were mainly affected professionally, by individuals temporarily leaving the protest to come and shout at them or try to discuss with people who were currently getting tested, while for the latter,…

51/52 …consequences extended more into the private life (avoiding certain parts of the city on protest days, generally feeling less safe, conflicts arising in their extended social circles, etc.).

52/52 Each interview is between 1 and 3 hours, so there's much more in them still - and I'm already looking forward to my next one! I hope this first glimpse into this ongoing study has been as interesting to you as it is to me 😊

(P.S. Again - please be aware that this is a qualitative study => the goal is to get in-depth knowledge of several individuals' experiences, not to get representative knowledge of a whole population. I.e. when I say "many, most, ..." it's always "many of my sample.")