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People participate in protests even though it is costly, bene ts are
not exclusive to participants, and each individual is unlikely to
be pivotal. Building on these characteristics, I propose a sequen-
tial model of protest formation where opportunities to participate
arrive stochastically, and the protest succeeds if participation sur-
passes a threshold. I show that a unique equilibrium exists and
characterize its dynamics. If the unique equilibrium involves par-
ticipation, the time between participation decisions shortens as the
protest progresses|a pattern observed empirically. A player with
an opportunity becomes sequentially pivotal if, after abstaining, the
protest will likely end before another
