Paid protesters or professional protesters[a] are people who participate in public outrage or objection in exchange for payment.[1][2] The expression may be directed against individuals, organizations and governments or against protests against the government with the aim of breaking up or discrediting a protest. In some contexts, people may be hired for optics to show increased public participation in the democratic process.[2] Two parliaments have debated paid protesting, the Kyrgyz parliament[1] and the Indian parliament,[3] and allegations without evidence were frequently made by former United States President Donald Trump and his supporters throughout his presidency.[4][5][6]
The larger the crowd, the less likely is it that they entirely consist of professional or paid protesters.[7] Paid protesters may not be aware of the matter in consideration.[8] Similar terms that have been used to refer to similar concepts include paid protest, rent-a-crowd, rent-a-mob, activists-for-hire, protest-on-hire, fake protesters/ fake protests and mercenaries.
Conspiracy theories about paid or professional protesters and coordinated protests by groups like antifa and supposed "global elites" (i.e. George Soros conspiracies or QAnon) were common throughout the presidency of Donald Trump,[9][10][11][12][13] and both right-leaning and left-leaning misinformation circles promote allegations of paid or otherwise organized protesters.[10]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^ abKim, Alexander; Osmonalieva, Asyl; Sikorskaya, Inga; Rasulov, Bakhtiyor (6 January 2012). "Rent-a-Mob Protests in Central Asia". Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
^ abCite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"'Protests liberated India,' say farmer unions in response to PM Modi's 'andolan jeevi' comment". Scroll.in. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
^Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Jervis, Rick. "Allegations of fake protests spread as anti-Trump fervor grows". USA Today. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
^Choi, Matthew. "Trump claims 'paid protesters' during Kavanaugh confirmation 'haven't gotten their checks'". Politico. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
^Kiger, Patrick J. (30 May 2017). "Do Paid Protesters Really Exist?". HowStuffWorks. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
^MacMahon, Martin (21 January 2020). "'Ashamed, embarrassed': Burnaby woman says she was paid $150 to support Meng Wanzhou outside court - NEWS 1130". www.citynews1130.com. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
^Hinnant, David Klepper and Lori. "Is George Soros paying protesters? Soros' conspiracy theories surge as protests sweep nation". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
^ ab"The World Was Primed for Protest Conspiracy Theories". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
^"Opinion | George Floyd protests, George Soros, and a dangerous right-wing conspiracy". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
^"George Soros conspiracy theories surge as protests sweep US". AP NEWS. 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
^Doctorow, Cory (2017-01-18). "Obviously fake "paid protester" site sets right wing media aflutter". Boing Boing. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
secret." According to a February 2016 report for NBC Los Angeles, a paidprotester claimed to be "a concerned citizen" when speaking out against a planned...
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diminish our protest. But we are aware, we have read the Act. We also know what the constitution says." — Ghazala, 22, Shaheen Bagh protester On 12 December...
Retrieved 2023-08-04. Higgins, Andrew (2023-09-24). "Cash, Mules and PaidProtests: How a Fraudster Seized an Ethnic Enclave". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331...
agitators were responsible for students locking themselves in Hind's Hall. Paidprotester Third Force (South Africa) Cindy Milstein (October 21, 2015). Taking...
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Parvari? Iran Protester Accused of 'Waging War on God'". Newsweek. Retrieved 1 October 2023. Qamar, Aysha (22 November 2022). "Crowds Of Protesters Gather In...
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"We Paid" is a song by American rappers Lil Baby and 42 Dugg. It was released as part of the deluxe edition of Lil Baby's second studio album My Turn,...
mounted patrol officer trample protester in downtown Houston". Houston Chronicle. "Houston Mayor apologizes to protester trampled by officer on horse"...
placed by protesters to prevent large trucks blocking Sussex from moving were finally cleared early in the afternoon, with the arrest of a protester in the...
that he would pay their legal fees if they punched a protester. On February 23, 2016, when a protester was ejected from a rally in Las Vegas, Trump stated...
town. In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse was the first to include paid advertising in its pages,[citation needed] allowing it to lower its price...
over the world." Other protester concerns were the Arab–Israeli conflict, capitalism, and the G8 and G20 summits. The protest was led by a Guelph-based...
developers at an average cost of 40x higher per acre than the government paid to the villagers. The same survey claims that, "according to Chinese researchers"...
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