One of the objectives of NoSomosDelito is public awareness of their message, so they can mobilize people and collect signatures against this law, and also generate criticism from media and governments outside Spain, in order to prevent its entry into force.

We created the Holographic Protest, the first of its kind.

On March 26th, the same day the Gag Law was approved, we launched a teaser website which encouraged users to participate in the demonstration in a virtual way: uploading their pictures, recording their shouts and sending their protest messages. At that time we did not revealed the location where the protest would take place, in order to avoid confrontation with the Spanish authorities.

On April 10th, we projected the protest on a 7x4 meters screen in front of the Parliament, taking advantage of a filming permit. The projected video was produced from previously filmed and the website user-contributed material. All people were postproduced as ghost-like blueish figures to enhance the visual impact. Technical difficulties included illumination (darkness was required) and fitting of the produced video in the geography where it was projected. All distances, and camera angles had to be taken into consideration.

We also had a special cabin for NoSomosDelito spokespeople to be interview by media as real-time holograms.

We chose the most difficult place, but also the most symbolic. Media covered the event worldwide, while we documented it in a short film that was distributed some days later.

Global hit in media all around the world, with estimated earned media (at the time of writing) of 16 million euros, and global audience of over 800 million. It was covered by the main national and international press, TV and online media, and made into the front page and editorials of some of them, such as the French newspaper Le Monde, The New York Times and The Boston Globe. It also appeared in countless local and specialized media.

17.857 people participated in the demonstration via the website, although after that moment, participations kept rising over 20.000. The online petition for the withdrawal of the law was signed by more than 330.000 people.

Our protest gathered over 50.000 tweets and about 400 million Twitter impressions.

Demonstrations around Parliament building are banned. Thus, media and people saw the campaign as a historic event, both in the struggle for civil rights and from the technological point of view. They debated its significance, how it surpassed the obstacles the new law poses, or even how it makes possible new forms of exercising the right of expression and the freedom of assembly.

Ultimately, the protest was debated in a session of the Spanish Congress.

The Spanish Citizens’ Securities Law’s Reform (commonly known as The Gag Law) is an attack on the right of freedom of assembly. This measure restricts citizens’ liberties, and criminalizes their right to protest. Turning a right into an offence for which people can be pursued, detained, and judged.

The platform NoSomosDelito (WeAreNotCrime), formed by over a hundred citizens’ organizations, activists, and jurists, is born with the intention of informing citizens about the meaning of these reforms, which restrict fundamental rights such as freedom of expression in the name of “citizens’ security”, and to pressure the government into withdrawing them immediately.