Protests are a regular feature of democratic society, but, as Visual Capitalist's Nick Routley explores below, they can occasionally cross over from non-violent demonstrations into civil unrest. Even protests that are largely peaceful can still result in arrests, violence, police aggression, and property damage.

Visual Capitalist's animated map below looks at the last two decades of civil unrest in the United States using lists compiled on Wikipedia.

Instances of civil unrest eventually leave the news cycle, and we rarely have the chance to examine the bigger picture or see where they fit within a nation-wide pattern.

From this map we can see that certain cities, such as St. Louis and Oakland, have been disproportionately impacted by civil unrest. As well, universities have also been hotspots for rioting, though often for much different reasons.