Organizing demonstrations outside of police stations after arrests of activists

Otpor! (“Resistance!” in Serbo-Croatian) prepared “Plan B” demonstrations outside of police stations to respond immediately to arrests during protest events in Serbia. Whenever the police arrested activists in their demonstrations, Otpor! would instantaneously launch a second operation, mobilizing more people to show up at the police stations and protest the arrest. The events at the police station became media showpieces, calling attention to the injustice of the arrests and the illegitimacy of the regime. They also provided moral support and encouragement to the arrested activists, turning them into local and national heroes, rather than forgotten victims. Otpor! thus turned the regime’s policy of arrests to its own advantage and continued to build a movement.

In response to growing repression by the Milosevic regime in Serbia, Otpor! built a national campaign throughout the country, holding hundreds of events, putting up thousands of posters, distributing millions of leaflets. While they did this, they faced a relentless response from the state, including over 2000 arrests of activists. Otpor! organized nonviolent political actions of all kinds – demonstrations, marches, street theater, etc.– but the Serbian police were less creative: arresting activists became a habitual response to all actions. When activists were arrested, Otpor! knew which police station they would be taken to (because each municipality had its own local police station). They also helped activists prepare psychologically for arrest beforehand by creating a “dialogue list” that explained what they could expect under interrogation and by assuring them they could count on Plan B to support them.

Once arrests occurred, Plan B consisted of mobilizing Otpor!’s extensive network of contacts by:

• Calling friendly lawyers, who would go immediately to the police station and begin negotiating for the activists’ release;
• Calling on all Otpor! activists to gather at the Otpor! premises or in front of the police station within an hour. They would then participate in nonviolent and fun activities such as singing and games at this new demonstration;
• Informing the media (including all independent TV stations, radio stations, newspapers and press photographers) and calling on them to come to the police station to support the action, and to take the activists’ statements after their release;
• Calling on all opposition political parties in order to condemn the arrest and to call their members from that territory (municipality) to join the activists in front of the police station;
• Calling on local NGOs to inform international organizations and to send protest letters condemning the arrest.

The lawyers always succeeded in getting the arrested activists released. Generally there was no reason for their arrest (except to stop the action and to frighten the activists). The arrested activists would then be welcomed as heroes and would hold a press conference in front of the police station or at Otpor!’s office after they were released.

These activists were in most cases very exhausted, tired, frightened and angry, but they were also motivated and happy because they were not alone when they were released, but were greeted by crowds of friends and well-wishers. The arrested activists were very often the ones in charge of planning subsequent actions and motivating others to participate in them, or they would participate in Plan B actions. Then, the previously arrested activists could talk to others about what it was like to spend hours in the police station, what questions the police asked, and how they felt. Also, activists knew they would never be alone: If they were arrested, they knew for sure that lawyers, the media and more protesters would stand in front of the police station until they were released. This built a sense of solidarity in the organization.

In addition to building solidarity among activists, Plan B guaranteed that some successful action would take place, whether or not the primary demonstration was broken up. This raised the morale of all Otpor! activists and weakened the credibility of the government’s police machinery. In addition, it mobilized Serbian citizens who were already fed up with Milosevic. They grew particularly incensed when he began arresting young people who were doing nothing wrong. Thus Plan B, which called attention to the illegitimacy of the arrests, became an important factor in mobilizing the general citizenry in Otpor!’s favor.

Although this tactic is applicable to a wide range of contexts, there are a number of considerations that may impact its success. These include the existence of rule of law in a country, the development of strong networks of communication and support, and the effect of Plan B demonstrations on public support for the campaign. These considerations vary significantly across countries and communities.

~ New Tactics in Human Rights ~