sit-in

Tactics

The tactics of a sit-in is usually to cause peaceful disruption. The strategy for sit in protests was pioneered by Mahatma Gandhi, during the Quit India Movement and Salt March, which involved peaceful resistance. Gandhi drew from the works of Leo Tolstoy. Although throughout history sit-ins existed as a form of protest, including prior to the Industrial Revolution. Sit ins cause the message of a protest movement to be spread, without causing any damage, as such they are a common form of civil disobedience.

Examples

United States

The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) conducted sit-ins as early as the 1940s. Ernest Calloway refers to Bernice Fisher as "Godmother of the restaurant 'sit-in' technique." In August 1939, African-American attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker organized the Alexandria Library sit-in at the then racially segregated library. Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) labor delegates had a brief, spontaneous lunch counter sit-in during their 1947 Columbus, Ohio convention.

In one of the earliest use of sit-ins against racism, followers of Father Divine and the International Peace Mission Movement joined with the Cafeteria Workers Union, Local 302, in September 1939 to protest racially unfair hiring practices at New York's Shack Sandwich Shops, Inc. According to The New York Times for September 23, 1939, on Thursday between 75 and 100 followers showed up at the restaurant at Forty-first Street and Lexington Avenue, where most of the strike activity has been concentrated, and groups went into the place, purchased five-cent cups of coffee, and conducted what might be described as a kind of customers' nickel sit down strike. Other patrons were unable to find seats.

In May 1942, James Farmer Jr., an organizer for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, led a group of 27 people to protest the racially discriminatory no-service policy of the Jack Spratt Diner on 47th Street in Chicago. Each seating area at the diner was taken by groups that included at least one black person. The peaceful patrons, several from the campus of the nearby University of Chicago, then tried to order; all were refused. The police were called, but when they arrived they told the management that no laws were being broken, so no arrests were made. The diner closed for the night but thereafter, according to periodic checks made by CORE activists, it no longer enforced its discriminatory policy.

With the encouragement of Melvin B. Tolson and Farmer, students from Wiley and Bishop Colleges organized the first sit-in in Texas in the rotunda of the Harrison County Courthouse in Marshall. This sit-in directly challenged the oldest White Citizens Party in Texas and would culminate in the reversal of Jim Crow laws in the state and the desegregation of postgraduate studies in Texas by the Sweatt v. Painter (1950) verdict. Sit-ins are often recognized for illuminating the goals of the movement in a way that young people were also able to participate in. Sit-ins were an integral part of the nonviolent strategy of civil disobedience and mass protests that eventually led to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which ended legally sanctioned racial segregation in the United States and also passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that struck down many racially motivated barriers used to deny voting rights to non-whites.

Disability rights movement

The League of the Physically Handicapped in New York City was formed in May 1935 to protest discrimination by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Home Relief Bureau of New York City stamped applications by physically handicapped applicants with "PH", which stood for "physically handicapped". Marked as "unemployable", they were denied access to WPA-created jobs. To protest, members of the League held a sit-in at that Home Relief Bureau for nine days beginning on May 29, 1935, and a weekend sit-in at the WPA headquarters, also in New York City, in June 1935. These actions eventually led to the creation of 1,500 jobs for physically handicapped workers in New York City in 1936.

An early version of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was vetoed by President Richard Nixon in October 1972. Later in 1972, Disabled in Action demonstrated in New York City with a sit-in protesting this veto. Led by Judith Heumann, eighty activists staged this sit-in on Madison Avenue, stopping traffic.

Initially Joseph Califano, U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, refused to sign meaningful regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which was the first U.S. federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities. After an ultimatum and deadline, demonstrations took place in ten U.S. cities on April 5, 1977, including the beginning of the 504 Sit-in at the San Francisco Office of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. This sit-in, led by Judith Heumann and organized by Kitty Cone, lasted until May 4, 1977, a total of 25 days, with more than 150 people refusing to leave. It is the longest sit-in at a federal building to date. Joseph Califano signed the regulations on April 28, 1977.

Easement payment

On June 1, 1955, in Door County, Wisconsin, Mrs. Victor Baker sat on a chair over three charges of dynamite, and later moved to her car parked near the dynamite. She blocked the construction of a state highway for 17 hours to protest the failure of the county government to pay the entirety of the amount owed her and her husband for the additional right-of-way taken from her home and orchard along the construction route. The county had planned to pay a week later, after the state sent the funds. On the morning of June 2, the county highway commissioner came by with a check for an additional $1,500 and she ended the protest.

Feminist movement

In 1969 there was a sit-in at the University of Chicago to protest the firing of feminist sociology professor Marlene Dixon. On February 12, 1969, a faculty committee chaired by Hanna H. Gray, Associate Professor of History, concluded that no violation of normal appointment procedures had occurred, but recommended that Dixon be offered a one-year terminal reappointment since the resolution of her status had been delayed by the controversy surrounding the decision; Dixon refused. On February 15, the protestors still sitting-in voted to stop. In March 1969, at the decision of university disciplinary committees, forty-two students involved in the Administration Building sit-in were expelled, eighty-one were suspended, and three were placed on probation.

A "Statement on the University of Chicago sit-in" was included in the feminist anthology Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings From The Women's Liberation Movement (edited by Robin Morgan, published in 1970); this statement refers to the Marlene Dixon sit-in.

By the early 1950s, women were allowed inside the Oak Room and Bar during the evenings, but still barred until 3 p.m. on weekdays, while the stock exchanges operated. In February 1969, Betty Friedan and other members of the National Organization for Women held a sit-in and then picketed to protest this; the gender restriction was removed a few months later.

In March 1970, feminists held an 11-hour sit-in at the Ladies' Home Journal's office, which resulted in them getting the opportunity to produce a section of the magazine that August.

Gun control lobby

The sit-in began on June 22, 2016, when members of the House Democratic Caucus declared their intention to remain on the floor of the United States House of Representatives until its Republican Speaker, Paul Ryan, allowed votes on gun safety legislation in the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shooting.

A group of the Democrats ultimately occupied the floor through the night, only leaving on the afternoon of June 23. None of the measures demanded by the occupying members were given a vote.

LGBTQ+ rights movement

On April 25, 1965, the first of two sit-ins occurred at the popular Dewey's Restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was one of the earliest demonstrations advocating for the LGBT community in United States history. Three unidentified teenagers and approximately 150 supporters walked into the Dewey's location at 219 South 17th Street, refusing to leave in the name of civil rights. This initial sit-in was in response to Dewey's recently implemented discriminatory policy claiming it would not serve “homosexuals,” “masculine women,” “feminine men,” or “persons wearing nonconformist clothing.” Philadelphia police arrested the three teenagers, which led to further grass-roots action. Clark Polak, president of the local Janus Society, extended support to the protesters. Members of the Janus Society and other supporters circulated approximately 1500 flyers throughout the local area over the next five days.

On May 2, 1965, protesters staged a second sit-in at Dewey's, although this time there were no arrests. Soon after the second sit-in, Dewey's Restaurant reversed their discriminatory policy. The Dewey's sit-ins helped continue the path towards equal rights for many LGBT people in the United States.

On April 21, 1966, gay activists of the Mattachine Society of New York (MSNY) conducted a "Sip-In" at Julius' Bar at 10th Street. This established the right of gay people to be served in licensed premises in New York. This action helped clear the way for gay premises with state liquor licenses.

Protests against the Israel-Hamas War

In April 2024, student activists at Columbia University, with Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace began to conduct a sit-in on the university's campus, demanding the university divest from Israel in response to the Gaza war. Columbia's demonstration influenced protests and sit-ins at other universities both in and out of the United States. In response to the demonstrations, the White House spokesman stated, "The president believes that forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach. That is not an example of peaceful protests."

Anti Islamic Republic Protest

After the 2026 Iran massacre, students from 30 universities in all across Iran announced staged sit-ins, including in medical universities, the government had to switch to online classes and exams for the next semesters as well, Minister of Health deputy announced program to alleviate psychological trauma suffered by students.

Hungary

In 2016, eco-protesters occupied the area of the Kertem in Budapest in protest against the building plan in Városliget.

Pakistan

The Azadi March (Freedom March) led by Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Inqilab March (Revolution March) led by Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri of Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) are political, aiming at a probe of election rigging by Nawaz Sharif, as well as restoration of "true democracy and social, political and economical reforms." The Azadi March started on August 14, 2014, and ended on December 17, 2014. It is considered to be the longest-lasting public sit-in in Pakistan's history. Concepcion Picciotto's sit-in was the more long-lasting sit-in, but on an individual level.

South Africa

During apartheid a number of sit-in protests against the country's policy of racial segregation were staged in South African embassies in the United States. In post-apartheid South Africa two notable sit-ins were the occupation of South African universities to protest high tuition during the FeesMustFall protests and the Greenmarket Square refugee sit-in to protest for the resettlement of refugees to third countries due to xenophobia.

Wales

The Welsh Language Society's (WLS) first public protest took place in February 1963 in Aberystwyth town centre where members pasted posters on the post office in an attempt to be arrested and go to trial. When it became apparent that they would not be arrested for the posters, the WLS members then moved to Pont Trefechan in Aberystwyth, where around seventy members and supporters held a sit-in blocking road traffic for half an hour.

In 1968, a sit-in was held at the news and television studio and the newsroom department of the BBC at Broadway, Cardiff, by the WLS. The sit-in was calling for the BBC to use more Welsh.

Dharna

A dharna (Hindi: धरना; Urdu: دهرنا) is a non-violent sit-in protest, which may include a fast undertaken at the door of an offender, especially a debtor, in India as a means of obtaining compliance with a demand for justice, state response of criminal cases, or payment of a debt. The word originates from the Sanskrit word dharnam.

Dharna generally refers to fixing one's mind on an object. It refers to whole-heartedly pledging toward an outcome or to inculcating a directed attitude. Dharna is consciously and diligently holding a point of view with the intent of achieving a goal.

Historically in India, it was a popular form of protest during the Indian independence movement and part of Mahatma Gandhi's satyagraha form of civil disobedience and protest. There were also recorded instances of indigenous officials charged with recruitment quotas for the British Indian Army staging dharna as a recruitment tool in Punjab during World War I.

More recently, there are designated places for conducting Dharna, and a permission is required for it. Often, those practicing dharna break the permission leading to clashes with law enforcement. For example, the Shaheen Bagh protest was a sit-in peaceful protest, led by women, that began in response to the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in both houses of the Parliament of India on December 11, 2019, and the ensuing police intervention against students at Jamia Millia Islamia who were opposing the Amendment. Protesters agitated not only against the citizenship issues of the CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), but also against police brutality, unemployment, poverty and for women's safety. Mainly consisting of Muslim women, the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, since December 14, 2019, blocked a road in New Delhi using non-violent resistance for 101 days until March 24, 2020.

In Pakistan, the term was first used in 1958 by Abdul Qayyum Khan against the Prime Minister Feroze Khan's administration to remove his President Iskander Mirza but its effective usage was made by Naeem Siddiqui proposed to use dharna politics for obtaining objectives and latter on Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Jamaat-e-Islami organised dharna in Pakistan in 1993, Fazl Ur Rehman, Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Safdar awan and other political and religious leaders are now attempting to use this strategy for their purposes.