fall of 1979, as construction was ready to start, protesters performed two acts of civil disobedience: at the construction site itself at Stilla, activists sat down on the ground and blocked the machines, and at the same time, Sami activists began a hunger strike outside the Norwegian parliament. Documents that have since been declassified, show that the government planned to use military forces as logistical support for police authorities in their efforts to stop the protests. The prime minister at the time, Odvar Nordli, pre-empted such an escalation by promising a review of the parliament's decision, but the Norwegian parliament subsequently confirmed its decision to dam the river. More than one thousand protesters chained themselves to the site when the work started again in January 1981. The police responded with large forces; at one point 10% of all Norwegian police officers were stationed in Alta (during which time they were quartered in a cruise ship). The protesters were forcibly removed by police. For the first time since World War II, Norwegians were arrested and charged with violating laws against rioting. The central organizations for the Sami people discontinued all cooperation with the Norwegian government. Two Sami women even travelled to Rome to petition the Pope. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government in early 1982, at which point organized opposition to the power plant ceased, and construction of the Alta Hydroelectric Power Station was completed by 1987. Legacy As the first serious political upheaval since the debate about Norwegian EC membership in 1972, the Alta controversy was important in several ways: It put the rights of the Sami as an indigenous people with distinct rights over the lands in Northern Norway, onto the national political agenda. This process reached a key milestone in 2005, when the Finnmark Act was passed. It is considered that though the Sami lost the battle over this particular issue, they made important long-term gains. It unified formerly disparate environmental groups with respect to a common cause. Revived Sami interest in their culture and rolled back efforts of the Norwegian government's Norwegianization policy. The NGO organised the opposition against the construction in the Alta controversy, and had at the most 20,000 members. Of these 10,000 actively participated in demonstrations, including the Stilla March. The organisation functioned as a cooperation between environmentalists and Sami activists, and not only succeeded at putting focus on environmental issues