Organized Pedestrian Movement in Public Spaces: Preparation and Crisis Management of Urban Parades and Demonstration Marches with High Conflict Potential – OPMoPS

Parades of highly controversial groups or of political demonstration marches are considered as a major threat to urban security, since the diametrically opposed opinions of participants and opponents may result in violence or even terroristic attacks. Due to the movement of the urban parades and demonstration marches (in the following abbreviated by UPM) through large parts of cities and the resulting space and time dynamics, it is particularly difficult for forces of civil security (abbreviated in the following by FCS) to guarantee safety at these types of urban events without endangering one of the most important indicators of a free society.
In this proposal, partners representing the FCS (police and industry) will cooperate with researchers from academic institutions to develop a decision support tool which can help them both in the preparation phase and crisis management situations of UPMs. The development of this tool will be driven by the needs of the FCS, but also by research results in social behavior of participants and opponents. The latter and the assessment of legal and ethical issues related to proposed technical solutions are an important part of the proposed research.
Specific technical issues which the French-German consortium will have to tackle include the following: Optimization methods to plan UPM routes, transportation to and from the UPM, location and personnel planning of FCS, control of UPMs using stationary and moving cameras, and simulation methods, including their visualization, with specific emphasis on social behavior. The methods will be applicable in the preparation for and organization of UPMs as well as in the crisis management needed for ad hoc UPMs or for unexpected incidences.
At the end of the funding period a decision tool will be available which shows the potential of the approach and which will be marketable with a foreseeable amount of work and time.