114 Resource book on the use of force and firearms in law enforcement most people who take part in an assembly will have peaceful intentions. By making it easier for them to achieve their goals, the police can avoid violence, and get support from participants in order to reduce the potential for disorder. Special attention should be given to members of groups that are vulnerable to abuse by either State or non-State actors (including by agents provocateurs) and care must be taken to ensure they can fully exercise their rights to peaceful assembly. Communication: The police should actively communicate in order to create relationships with participants in an event and provide a foundation for future conflict prevention. They should be culturally knowledgeable about the groups in the crowd and be trusted and respected by such groups. Communication should take place during all phases of the assembly, but it is of particular importance when tensions begin to rise. If restrictions have to be imposed, it is important to inform people about the reasons in order to avoid misunderstandings and to suggest alternatives. It is recommended to adopt a “no surprises” approach by sharing as much planning as possible with the organizers and where possible with all involved groups so that they know what to expect. This means that all police officers should be able to communicate with and inform participants and members of the public about the police intentions at an event. Differentiation: Participants in the assembly are not one faceless mob and are not all the same.246 One way to differentiate between individuals is to observe what they do rather than what category they belong to. A group of people is never homogeneous from the beginning but may begin to behave as such if they are treated as a single entity. Police should know what groupings there are at an assembly and the different ways they may act and react. If someone initiates a conflict, it is important that the police reaction to this does not lead to others being drawn into the conflict. Differentiation also means that police are aware of the different vulnerabilities that members of different subgroups may have and take these into account. It also allows for pinpointed action against individuals breaking the law, which then has a low impact on the assembly, as it does not affect uninvolved bystanders, who can carry on without interruption. “NEGOTIATED MANAGEMENT” a Negotiated management is based on the idea that it is more productive, where possible, to work with crowds, rather than against them. Under this approach, the task of the police is to protect rights and to facilitate, rather than frustrate, peaceful assemblies. Under the negotiated management approach, groups are different from individuals but they do not necessarily act in a random, incomprehensible way. Groups react according to their own logic and a number of external influences, including how the authorities treat them. The negotiated management approach entails accepting some of the spill-over effects of the protest in return for assurances as to the peaceful nature of the event. The emphasis of this approach is therefore on ensuring the peaceful development of the assembly, rather than enforcing the law. In this paradigm of “under-enforcement” of the law, force should be used by the police in self-defence or defence of others, rather than to assert the authority of the law in the abstract. a See Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, A/HRC/17/28, 23 May 2011, paras. 109-115. 246  See ICRC, 2011.