Occupation (protest)

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An occupation, as an act of protest, is the entry into and holding of a building, space or symbolic site. As such, occupations often combine some of the following elements: a challenge to ownership of the space involved, an effort to gain public attention, the practical use of the facilities occupied, and a redefinition of the occupied space. Occupations may be conducted nonviolently, or with varying degrees of physical force to obtain and defend the place occupied. Occupations may be brief or they may extend for weeks, months or years. In some cases of long-term occupation, the term protest camp may be applied, although occupation often connotes the use of space without permission or in defiance of governmental authority.

Notable protest occupations include: the 1968 Columbia Student Strike; the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989; the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz by American Indians; the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in England, which began protesting the placement of nuclear-armed cruise missiles in 1981; and the 1936-37 GM Sit-Down Strike, in Flint, Michigan.