The policing of riots and uprisings poses severe challenges to the police. Yet the police are often culpable in the disturbances touched off by a precipitating incident of police violence or a crackdown on a peaceful protest. The Gezi Park uprisings in Turkey also broke out shortly after excessive force by the Istanbul police against a handful of peaceful activists in Taksim Square. In the aftermath of the mobilizations, however, a drift towards a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach has prevailed over protest control strategies. Drawing on field notes, interviews with activists, excerpts from the news media, protest event analysis and secondary literature, we argue that the chances of dialogue-oriented policing are hampered by two major predicaments in Turkey. The first pertains to the negative biases in police perceptions about protests and protesters that serve to justify and perpetuate a conflict-driven understanding of policing. The second is rooted in the institutional and policy realm and stems from the prevalence of a law-and-order approach to crowd control and public order.

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Scholarly literature offers much insight into aggressive policing of racial minorities. However, research is not equally extensive regarding the experiences of racial minorities with law enforcement when police response might be decisive for their sense of recognition and protection as a community. Bridging debates from critical race studies, hate crimes and legal cynicism, this paper addresses how policing of racist victimization is experienced by members of racially targeted communities in Sweden. Drawing on interviews with people having personal and/or vicarious experiences with racist victimization, I analyze resentful reliance on the police through the concept of legal estrangement. While most respondents describe police treatment in somewhat positive terms, there is a shared resentment at the police due to the lived experience that racism often remains undetected. Previous interactions with law enforcement also pave the way for accumulated skepticism toward the utility of the policing of racial hatred. Disenchantment with law enforcement notwithstanding, reliance on the police manifests a will not just to be recognized as a victim, but also to make the pervasiveness of racism more visible.

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Recent years have seen an explosion of protest movements around the world, and academic theories are racing to catch up with them. This series aims to further our understanding of the origins, dealings, decisions, and outcomes of social movements by fostering dialogue among many traditions of thought, across European nations and across continents. All theoretical perspectives are welcome. Books in the series typically combine theory with empirical research, dealing with various types of mobilization, from neighborhood groups to revolutions. We especially welcome work that synthesizes or compares different approaches to social movements, such as cultural and structural traditions, micro-and macro-social, economic and ideal, or qualitative and quantitative. Books in the series will be published in English. One goal is to encourage nonnative speakers to introduce their work to Anglophone audiences. Another is to maximize accessibility: all books will be available in open access within a year after printed publication.