Police Fairness, Anger and Support for Violent and Non-Violent Disruptive Actions in Chile

Cross-sectional research has shown that perceptions of injustice and their resultant emotions are associated with increased support for collective actions. In a three-wave longitudinal study of Chilean citizens (N_T1 = 2611; N_T2 = 1690; N_T3 = 1163), using Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel models, we examined the associations over time between perceived procedural justice of the police during protests, anger towards the police, and justification for non-violent and violent disruptive actions during a period of de-escalation of protests. Our analyses revealed that people who reported perceiving higher procedural justice at Time 1 (January 2021, 2 months after the referendum to change the constitution) expressed lower anger towards the police and lower justification of protesters' violent actions in Time 2 (August 2021, after the election of Constitutional representatives). These associations, however, were not significant between Time 2 and Time 3 (January 2022, following the election of Boric as president of Chile). Surprisingly, higher levels of anger towards the police in Time 2 predicted lower support for violent disruptive actions in Time 3. We interpret these results by considering the dynamic de-escalation of the protests and the ongoing sociopolitical changes in Chile, highlighting the relevance of the context in the study of collective action.