I would say Václavské Náměstí as that’s where the protests during the Velvet Revolution took place and there are frequent protests there. It’s really known for it too afaik
It’s the capitals central square, “Syntagma Square” translated to Constitution square. It’s where the Greek parliament is housed, in the building of the old Royal Palace. It got its name after a popular uprising against then Bavarian King Otto, demanding a constitution be drafted.
Usually most demonstrations start from Propylaia or Omonoia square with the ending and final gathering being outside the Parliament in Syntagma. Minor demo’s are called in Syntagma right away
In the capitol it’s outside the parliament, president’s palace or prime minister’s residence. Lately also in front of the house of the leader of PiS party.
In my city (Kraków) it’s the main square or outside the PiS party HQ. When PiS banned abortion the local council renamed the plaza outside their HQ to “Women’s rights square”.
Copenhagen
May first: Fælledparken, large park.
All other occasions: either Rådhuspladsen -the town hall square- or Christiansborg Slotsplads -the square in front of the national parliament- along with the Streets surrounding it.
as of, literally this moment, all over belgrade
there’s so many people you can’t fit us into a single square
Malieveld in The Hague. It’s a field a few hundred meters away from parliament also used for festivals etc.
Nowhere, we dont really protest. But if we are not satisfied by something some people post on the norway subreddit about it.
Victory Square (Piața Victoriei), in Bucharest.
It has historical and political significance making it a focal point for demonstrations.
We’ve got two in the Netherlands.
One is in Amsterdam, the “Dam”. A big square in the city centre, usually a protest will do a walk through the city centre from there or that ends there.
The other is in The Hague, the “Malieveld”. It’s a large field in a park, at the edge of the city centre but close to lots of government buildings. Protests will often walk past government offices and/or the place where our politicians debate and end at Malieveld.
Around the corner from the Malieveld is a major highway, the A12, which regularly gets blocked by Extinction Rebellion. It’s a really good spot because it’s the main road into and out of the city, and the spot is also right in front of the government department responsible for climate policy. The headquarters of Shell used to be close by too, but they moved away some years ago.
Not sure if there is a single one? I guess there’s always some sort of protest in front of the Bundestag in Berlin, on the grass there. In my city the place to organise protests is in front of the opera house.
edit: I was also mostly thinking in the sense of “actual furious protest”, and not big organised events following a timetable. So more like Maidan in Kyiv or Taksim Square in Istanbul
Markov Trg – Marko Square (Zagreb)
The government “closed it” few years back because of an incident. Put fences there and now nobody can pass there.
If you want your protest to get on the news then you go with Austurvöll, it’s the open area in front of our parliament building.
Place de la République in Paris would be the most obvious one. Lots of big protests start there, and there is at least one small protest there every weekend. Quite often several that have to share the space.
In Edinburgh it would be outside the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood. In Glasgow, it would be Buchanan steps in the city centre.
Protests can happen all over the country. Central London is probably the most common.
Manchester city centre has a lot too. I was there last month and saw Ukrainian, free Palestine and pro British protests all in the same day.
George Square in Glasgow, easily. It’s there that you’ll be met with all sorts of political demonstrations and they’re pretty inescapable. There’s also the Donald Dewar statue on a street not too far off that tends to be a political protest hotspot.
Wenceslas Square in Prague, if the number is up to 80 000 people. (more than that won’t be able to fit)
It has become such a popular protest spot that it’s effectively an essential democratic institution on its own.
“Going down to Austurvöllur” has become almost an idiom for protesting.
The course of Iceland in the Cold War was decided there in 1949 during the NATO riot, the government responsible for the financial crisis was pushed out there in 2008, and the Panama Papers scandal protest pushed out our PM in 2016 there.
Depends per city, and depends per action but we usually start marches in the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin.
Our protest in Albania is useless, the opposite protesting because the government decided to ban Tiktok 😅
In addition, many demonstrations take place solely at the stairs of the Finnish parliament.
We ( Croatia) don’t protest, we just vent on Reddit. But a long long time ago the biggest spontaneous one was on the main square in Zagreb – which is probably the biggest one in the country.
A lot of relatively small protests take place in front of Brussels Central station. The bigger protests usually march through Brussels, visiting several key points along the way such as the Chancellery of the Prime Minister (16 rue de la Loi – Wetstraat 16), the federal Parliament, the King’s Palace and various political parties’ headquarters, usually while striking. For regional matters, Flemings go to Brussels and Francophones go to Namur. For EU matters, to the European Council or the European Parliament.
Depends on the city. Most common is of course the market square or the squares in front of government buildings, train stations or shopping avenues.
Mykhaila Hrushevskoho st. where the parliament and cabinet of ministers are located. Independence square and Khreschatyk st. which are basically the main square and street in Kyiv
Two sqares with pretty poetic names for that purpose:
Namestie slobody (Liberty/Freedom square)
Namestie SNP (Slovak National Uprising square)
In Stockholm it’s probably Sergels torg (Sergels square). It’s a large sunken square close to public transportation where people can gather on the square as well as above and around it. There are also some stairs that have a balcony that can double as a speaking stand. There always seems to be some sort of protest or demonstration going on there.
in istanbul, its definitely Taksim Square, İstiklal Street and Gezi Park. Also Kadıköy Bahariye street could be added for smaller protests.
In Madrid Puerta del Sol (where people gather for NYE’s celebrations) or else Plaza de Colón, literally a couple of km up a main street.
I feel like where I live (northern England) there isn’t so much a square that anyone turns to. It’s more so just any space of road in the middle of the city centre
30 comments
I would say Václavské Náměstí as that’s where the protests during the Velvet Revolution took place and there are frequent protests there. It’s really known for it too afaik
It’s the capitals central square, “Syntagma Square” translated to Constitution square. It’s where the Greek parliament is housed, in the building of the old Royal Palace. It got its name after a popular uprising against then Bavarian King Otto, demanding a constitution be drafted.
Usually most demonstrations start from Propylaia or Omonoia square with the ending and final gathering being outside the Parliament in Syntagma. Minor demo’s are called in Syntagma right away
In the capitol it’s outside the parliament, president’s palace or prime minister’s residence. Lately also in front of the house of the leader of PiS party.
In my city (Kraków) it’s the main square or outside the PiS party HQ. When PiS banned abortion the local council renamed the plaza outside their HQ to “Women’s rights square”.
Copenhagen
May first: Fælledparken, large park.
All other occasions: either Rådhuspladsen -the town hall square- or Christiansborg Slotsplads -the square in front of the national parliament- along with the Streets surrounding it.
as of, literally this moment, all over belgrade
there’s so many people you can’t fit us into a single square
Malieveld in The Hague. It’s a field a few hundred meters away from parliament also used for festivals etc.
Nowhere, we dont really protest. But if we are not satisfied by something some people post on the norway subreddit about it.
Victory Square (Piața Victoriei), in Bucharest.
It has historical and political significance making it a focal point for demonstrations.
We’ve got two in the Netherlands.
One is in Amsterdam, the “Dam”. A big square in the city centre, usually a protest will do a walk through the city centre from there or that ends there.
The other is in The Hague, the “Malieveld”. It’s a large field in a park, at the edge of the city centre but close to lots of government buildings. Protests will often walk past government offices and/or the place where our politicians debate and end at Malieveld.
Around the corner from the Malieveld is a major highway, the A12, which regularly gets blocked by Extinction Rebellion. It’s a really good spot because it’s the main road into and out of the city, and the spot is also right in front of the government department responsible for climate policy. The headquarters of Shell used to be close by too, but they moved away some years ago.
Not sure if there is a single one? I guess there’s always some sort of protest in front of the Bundestag in Berlin, on the grass there. In my city the place to organise protests is in front of the opera house.
edit: I was also mostly thinking in the sense of “actual furious protest”, and not big organised events following a timetable. So more like Maidan in Kyiv or Taksim Square in Istanbul
Markov Trg – Marko Square (Zagreb)
The government “closed it” few years back because of an incident. Put fences there and now nobody can pass there.
If you want your protest to get on the news then you go with Austurvöll, it’s the open area in front of our parliament building.
Place de la République in Paris would be the most obvious one. Lots of big protests start there, and there is at least one small protest there every weekend. Quite often several that have to share the space.
In Edinburgh it would be outside the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood. In Glasgow, it would be Buchanan steps in the city centre.
Protests can happen all over the country. Central London is probably the most common.
Manchester city centre has a lot too. I was there last month and saw Ukrainian, free Palestine and pro British protests all in the same day.
George Square in Glasgow, easily. It’s there that you’ll be met with all sorts of political demonstrations and they’re pretty inescapable. There’s also the Donald Dewar statue on a street not too far off that tends to be a political protest hotspot.
Wenceslas Square in Prague, if the number is up to 80 000 people. (more than that won’t be able to fit)
Letna Plain (also in Prague), if there are more. It should hold about 300,000 people.
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letn%C3%A1#/media/File:Letna_2019_64080.jpg
There is a big square in front of Alþingi.
It has become such a popular protest spot that it’s effectively an essential democratic institution on its own.
“Going down to Austurvöllur” has become almost an idiom for protesting.
The course of Iceland in the Cold War was decided there in 1949 during the NATO riot, the government responsible for the financial crisis was pushed out there in 2008, and the Panama Papers scandal protest pushed out our PM in 2016 there.
Depends per city, and depends per action but we usually start marches in the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin.
Our protest in Albania is useless, the opposite protesting because the government decided to ban Tiktok 😅
The most common one is [Senate Square](https://historia.hel.fi/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_l/public/hkm.HKMS000005_km0000okz9_0_master.jpg?h=deaec4b9) in Helsinki, since the Government Palace is there. It has been used for demonstrations before independence, since the Senate of Finland used to be in the Government Palace, and the Russian Governor General ruled from there. [Here’s a demonstration from 19th century against Russification of Finnish army](https://historia.hel.fi/sites/default/files/styles/original_l/public/CE8944C5159A8348A55425DF90387015.jpg). It’s also where for example [Pride march starts](https://pride.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Alejandro-Lorenzo_kulkue15-scaled-1.jpg). Commonly marches start from the Senate Square and walk through the city to the actual target, like Russian Embassy or something.
Another, newer square is the [Citizen Square](https://linde-stories.com/fi/wp-content/uploads/sites/1/2020/05/oodi_1.jpg) between the Helsinki Central Library (the wooden wave building) and the Finnish Parliament (The classical building on the right). [Here’s a demonstrations from Covid times](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fekjwr17r82371.jpg) with demonstrators practicing social distancing.
In addition, many demonstrations take place solely at the stairs of the Finnish parliament.
We ( Croatia) don’t protest, we just vent on Reddit. But a long long time ago the biggest spontaneous one was on the main square in Zagreb – which is probably the biggest one in the country.
A lot of relatively small protests take place in front of Brussels Central station. The bigger protests usually march through Brussels, visiting several key points along the way such as the Chancellery of the Prime Minister (16 rue de la Loi – Wetstraat 16), the federal Parliament, the King’s Palace and various political parties’ headquarters, usually while striking. For regional matters, Flemings go to Brussels and Francophones go to Namur. For EU matters, to the European Council or the European Parliament.
Depends on the city. Most common is of course the market square or the squares in front of government buildings, train stations or shopping avenues.
Mykhaila Hrushevskoho st. where the parliament and cabinet of ministers are located. Independence square and Khreschatyk st. which are basically the main square and street in Kyiv
Two sqares with pretty poetic names for that purpose:
Namestie slobody (Liberty/Freedom square)
Namestie SNP (Slovak National Uprising square)
In Stockholm it’s probably Sergels torg (Sergels square). It’s a large sunken square close to public transportation where people can gather on the square as well as above and around it. There are also some stairs that have a balcony that can double as a speaking stand. There always seems to be some sort of protest or demonstration going on there.
in istanbul, its definitely Taksim Square, İstiklal Street and Gezi Park. Also Kadıköy Bahariye street could be added for smaller protests.
In Madrid Puerta del Sol (where people gather for NYE’s celebrations) or else Plaza de Colón, literally a couple of km up a main street.
I feel like where I live (northern England) there isn’t so much a square that anyone turns to. It’s more so just any space of road in the middle of the city centre