The United States Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is just the latest in a string of causes that have led to public outcry and response in the U.S. over the last few years. While the intention of protests is often disruption, they tend to remain peaceful, overall. However, protests can become destructive and violent, and when this happens local establishments tend to pay the price. So, how can businesses prepare for potential civil unrest?

Forming a plan begins with understanding how civil unrest escalates. Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) recently released a risk bulletin about this potential hazard, and they explain civil unrest tends to evolve through three phases:

1. The first phase is the incident initiating a disturbance among a small group of people.
2. In phase two, other people are alerted via news reporting and social media and come to join the smaller group. Often, these individuals are not involved with the cause the protest addresses and will show up merely to loot or otherwise cause damage.
3. The third phase begins when organized groups, with planned disruptive activities directed against targets of opportunity, join the unrest.

"Civil unrest increasingly represents a more critical exposure for many companies than terrorism," Srdjan Todorovic, head of global political violence and hostile environment solutions at AGCS, said in a press release. "Incidents of social unrest are unlikely to abate any time soon, given the aftershocks of Covid-19, the cost-of-living crisis, and the ideological shifts that continue to divide societies around the world. Businesses need to be alert to any suspicious indicators and designate clear pathways for de-escalation and response, which anticipate and avert the potential for personnel to be injured, and or, damage to business and personal property."