Arbitrary detentions are part of everyday life in Tibet – just being in the wrong place may be cause enough. We decided to let people feel what it’s like to go to prison instead of work.

Since we had to reach a broad range of different people on a single day, but with little money, public transportation was perfect. The tram is the most popular public transportation vehicle in Switzerland and the fastest way to work. That’s why on the day of human rights, we turned a public tram into a prison. A regular tram in Zürich was decorated like a prison – all windows were sealed with prison bars.

Posters alerted people for the situation in Tibet, while activists distributed flyers along the way.

Passengers as well as people outside the tram really were moved by the action. People got in the tram and had the impression that they were trapped. The fact that they were behind bars and taken somewhere else got to them and made them feel for the anxiety in Tibet – as some passengers expressed in interviews. As a direct consequence of the action, traffic and donations on the NGO website almost doubled. In the week after the promotion, donations increased by 92% in comparison to the week before. As new members joined the organization.