to be utterly sick of protests, marches, rallies, and riots

[NameChangeMay2026]

What happened today in Belfast was dreadful. Of course it was.

When Sarah Everard died, there were marches. But a day before she died, an Indian woman Sarah's age was knifed to death in the street in Leicestershire. It was an "honour" killing, I think.

Where was HER lantern on the doorstep of Downing Street? Where was HER march?

My point is, dreadful things happen every day and I am so sick and tired of news items sparking so much public rowdiness. It used to be that the media could report on current events without starting a riot. I know that we have always had riots, but they were the occasional one. And because they were not common, they helped effect change. They were a desperate measure reserved for when nothing else had helped.

Now, together with marches, rallies, and protests, society is constantly disrupted, and I am so, so sick of it. I live in a major city and I can't go anywhere without checking what march, rally, protest, or riot is happening, especially at the weekends. And they are so common that they don't help effect change anymore.

The riots are terrible. Thousands and thousands of pounds' worth of lost property in fires, injured bystanders, police calld away from other duties to attend them. And there are "professional" rabble-rousers who travel to marches, protests, and riots. It's not because they're passionate about a cause. They're just passionate about causing trouble.

I travel for work to major American cities and it's even worse over there. Another day, another riot/protest/march/rally.

They have become a feature of today's society, and I wish they would just stop.

Edit: I actually stay in more because of them. I don't go out of my hotel as much when staying in America, and I don't go to the city centre where I live as much. It's so bad when regular people are put off from walking around city centres because of all these annoying dickheads.

I think it is worse in America, and I'm tired of feeling scared to go out when there, in case I run into an uncontrolled crowd - where the police have guns, and the protestors might, depending on the state.

The burning buildings in Belfast are a disgrace. It's not the owners' fault that this happened.

Yup, exactly.

So, what are you going to do about it? Just sit around tut tutting?

Strikes are a totally different thing from what I'm talking about, and it was the strikes that led to action, not rabble-rousing in the streets. Strikes are a brilliant way to get results. Also, the strikers had a clear, stated aim with a feasible fix. They weren't just howling at the moon.

I’ll always defend the right to protest, BUT what we have today is dog-whistle rabble rousing, and agitators using the guise of protest to engage in thuggery. It has to stop.

When businesses are forced to close, homes and property are damaged, and police and bystanders are assaulted and threatened, that’s not a protest; it’s mob violence.

Do about what exactly? "It" could relate to any number of things

In the case of Novak's murder the murderer was found guilty and is now in prison. It is very clear that there was a severe failure on the part of the police who first responded to the incident. Incompetence is putting it mildly. But there is an inquiry under way to find out why they acted the way they did. It might have been based on the races of the men involved. It might be other failures (institutional and individual). I don't know, you don't know. Some people have decided they know exactly the reasons and there is an attempt to give the riots/protests more weight in deciding what happened than an inquiry. That's not how you get to truth or how you fix things.

In the case of the recent murder attempt in Belfast the murder was prevented by some very brave men on the ground and the police did arrive very swiftly. The attacker is now in prison. The details about who he was and why he was there are slowly coming out. But it will be while until more detail is known about his motivation. Until then I don't know what the "it" is that we should be doing something about since I don't know the reasons behind the horrible attack and neither do you. Threatening nurses, burning houses and grafitying "local homes for local people on the walls isn't anything to do with an injured man." It's co-opting the situation for their own ends.

@Persephonia1966 Exactly.

I've just looked at the Belfast riot footage. It's sickening. And the rioters know they are doing wrong, or else why would they be in face masks.

Peaceful protests with a clearly stated achievable ask are a thing of the past because of people like this. They are why we can't have nice things.

Yup. And it's often these kinds of people who organise marches and protests, too. Plus, they're so endless that they don't have any impact anymore.

The men’s football starts soon and that will distract many of them so hopefully it will die down for a bit.

The 'It' I was referring to was the OPs original complaint.

She thinks there are too many protests, marches, riots etc.

So, what exactly is to be done about these things?

It is really horrible to be in that situation/living where this stuff is happening especially with kids. Belfast locals have talked about how awful it is. But if you are far away on a keyboard it's all a bit exciting. You can take a vicarious pleasure in the chaos AND claim moral superiority by the fact that you care, and the people criticising the violence clearly don't and don't understand. Likewise it's all a fun day out.

This is far less harmful but it reminds me of people who would share e.g. missing dog appeals on Facebook even if the dog went missing in Texas but they are in Swindon. Like... Unless the dog hopped on a plane what is it achieving? But this is obviously much darker. Or people who make a disaster in another country all about the fact they thought about going on holiday there last year and just imagine if they had gone and the disaster had happened then. But again that's benign attention seeking compared to making a murder attempt about the fact you have to pay taxes or some such.

People could stop being twats? Unlikely I know.

Edited to add: I don't think the answer is a protest against protests. That would just be compounding the problem. I also don't think the gov should restrict people's rights to protest more (rioting is already illegal) or the right to access information. But there should be more censure of the politicians and rabble rousers who deliberately try to stir up trouble, spread misinformation and then use the resulting chaos to further their own agenda. And maybe a public shift of opinion against grievance vampires would help.

I wish the people so angered by these events would be even 1/4 as motivated to act on the outrageous rates of domestic violence.

They don’t actually give a shit about the biggest threat to women’s safety though. Because it’s not about safety.

Exactly! It's about pure thuggery and rabble-rousing for the sake of causing trouble.

I live in central London and there are constant protests all the time and always have been. Some of them are quite disruptive but most of them aren't. The cost of policing them is very high. They are about a multitude of different things and virtually none of them make the news. Last weekend there was a two day one outside the Albanian embassy. I think it was against some Trump beach buy up. There will have been others going on as well. I have seen a few about the war in Sudan. There were quite a few anti vax ones around covid. There are constant ones about Palestine (they used to be about the environment). The most disruptive are when we get two opposing lots marching on the same day but even then it rare for anything major to happen. The immigration ones get more attention in the press because it is a big theme in the media at the moment .

I think most of the protests are bit of a waste of time but I totally agree with the right to protest. It is part of living in a democracy. I have lived in countries where there is no freedom of speech where people can't protest. That is worse.

Damaging people's homes and violence isn't the same thing. It is just criminal thuggish behaviour.

The people are revolting….

I don’t think it’s unique to us at all. I was watching a story about immigration protests in South Africa yesterday. I have never been to a protest myself but the history of protest goes hand in hand with a free society. It has always been the threat of violence that makes them effective (even in peaceful protests). There has been some form of protest since civilisation began.

The issue now is that there is such division, and total unwillingness to engage. Even on this thread comments about ‘scum’. No one seems to know how to debate or converse with one another, which is of course a sign of falling levels of intelligence. Ironic of course, the people who engage in such ways are adamant it’s a sign of their superior intelligence which is rather amusing to watch (as well as being quite depressing).

Best brace yourself Op. We are heading for civil war.

Always have been? Nah, I lived in London 2000-2005 and there wasn't this endless round of huge protests, rallies, riots, and marches.

I agree with the right to protest, but it's endless these days and I don't think most of them are genuine, like when the French had a clear ask about the state pension.

Crowds of rabble-rousers organise themselves on Facebook and decide to hold massive marches and protests against...well, it's not clear what. They are run by angry people who just want to express rage and whip others up into rage. Protests and marches AGAINST the far right and the same FOR the far-right. What on earth does that achieve? The far right still exists. And protests against Israel/Gaza/Palestine. What's the point of that when the UK government has nothing to do with it? And as for protests against immigration, we've had high levels of immigration for decades, and the reason is that we need it, because our indigenous birth rate is too low. But you never see sensible, moderate people mounting a peaceful protest to get affordable childcare, do you.

This 💯

They are a symptom of people’s feelings of frustration, anger, dissatisfaction and powerlessness- nothing significant in history was ever changed without protest.

Nope. They're never protesting to gain something that is feasible. They could ask for stronger sentences for DV offenders, for example. But all the rabble-rousers aren't coherently campaigning to get a clear win that will make society better. They're just howling at the moon with shapeless, undefined aims, because they are anarchists who enjoy disrupting society.

The thing is, our politicians are not listening. We are lied to, and controlled. We are told what to think. Every time someone speaks out about women’s rights (trans/ women’s spaces) or their safety (child rape gangs, illegal migrant attacks and murders) we are told WE are the problem, racist.

When no one is listening, the people will rise up.

I’m not saying I condone it, but I don’t see how else you can get them to listen. Even when you vote them in, they just do what they like. Personally I’d like to see millions take to the streets and say ENOUGH in a peaceful way, but the shear number being astounding.

But these protestors are not asking for something clear and coherent. They are just screaming and raging, for no other reason than that they can. What do they hope to achieve? They have no clear stated ask, like when the suffragettes wanted votes for women.

Fifteen years ago in my home town, a beautiful pregnant young woman was stabbed to death in the street by a man with severe mental health issues who had never met her. There were no riots. Riots would have helped nothing. The perpetrator was white. These kind of horrible, unbelievably tragic crimes have always been around. It’s not always immigrants. The only reason people are rioting is because we live in a time when people are whipping up anger and hatred against people who are not white.
The perpetrators of these horrible acts have only one thing in common - they are men. So are the vast majority of the rioters. Male violence is the problem.

YANBU. Setting houses and buses on fire does nothing. I’m sick of the uneducated in this country thinking they rule the roost.

There have been multiple stabbings in Ireland this year, none of them have caused protests because the perpetrators were white. It’s evil.

I’m quite shocked at the deflection I’m saying after the fact vents of last week.

If you listen to the news it seems like it’s a distraction technique.

Teenager murdered by minority with knife carried for religious reasons. Asylum seeker (given right to remain) tries to cut off man’s head and gauge his eyes out. Oh, but the real issue here is look at all these right wing white people causing trouble in the streets, they’re the real issue here, not the fact that they’ve sent our country back to the Stone Age.