Nonviolent social movements and campaigns are frequently met with
violent repression from their opponents and cheers of encouragement from
their supporters. However, it is also common for both authorities and
third parties such as foreign governments, international organisations
and media to be much more nuanced in their responses. In an attempt to
prevent communication between activists, Egyptian authorities closed
down the internet and mobile phone networks during the uprising in 2011.
In Serbia in the late 1990's, the opposition group Otpor was prevented
from registering as a legal organisation and the activists were devalued
and framed as drug addicts, terrorists and traitors. In Argentina in the
1970's, many members of the human rights organisation Las Madras de
Plaza de Mayo were protected from being disappeared and killed because
of the recognition they received from independent international
organisations.