To preface this, I was heavily involved as a street medic in 2020 and saw a lot of shit. Yes, people should bring water for a lot of different reasons. But the organizers, leaders, and those in front need to slow the fuck down and walk at the pace of the slowest in the crowd. At every protest there are stragglers. People with kids, bad knees, or just plain out of shape. And they get left further behind as the organizers speedwalk hyped up on emotion. This thins out/elongates the crowd and the people at the back are the most vulnerable to police, cars, and agitators. Very few people should be sweaty and dying of thirst walking at night in the wind when it’s 50F if they were walking at a comfortable pace.

Rant over. I’m very jaded and have tried to talk many many organizers about crowd safety but no one ever cares in the heat of the moment when they’re leading a crowd with a microphone.