E.g., a square or street where important events or protests regularly take place or which are regularly used by certain sections of society.

For example, I heard from French that the monument of Jeanne d’Arc in Place des Pyramides in Paris is a meeting point for the far right and their protests.

18 comments

  1. Back in the day when Finland was the Grand Duchy of Finland, part of the Russian Empire, during Nikolai II’s reign Senate square in Helsinki would often be a location of anti-Russian protests. There is a statue of Alexander II in the middle of that square, a tzar who had a lot better rep here. And elsewhere too.

  2. In Madrid this place is definitely the Puerta del Sol (Sun’s Gate) square. It’s a popular place to hold demonstrations of all kinds in and it’s considered the radial origin of all roads in Spain.

    In Barcelona the most symbollic square is Plaça de Sant Jaume (Saint James’ square). It’s in the very center of the Old Quarter and it hosts both the catalan governement’s headquarters and Barcelona’s city hall. Due to its political status, lots of demonstrations take place there or have their beginning or end there (it’s not that big).

  3. Maidan Nezalezhnosti aka “The Maidan”(lit. The Square) in Kyiv, literally meaning Independence Square – when someone talks about their local town squares, you use a different synonym word or specify the name, but there’s only one Maidan in all of Ukraine.

    It’s the place which has served as the heart of freedom, protest and revolution movements since early 20th century – it was the site of Ukrainian revolution in 1917, in modern history it saw 3 revolutions – in 1990 when Revolution on granite happened, in 2004 when Orange Revolution happened and in 2014 when Revolution of Dignity happened.

    People died for standing their ground on Maidan – for their ideals, for liberty of their country and for the future of our people – it has a special place in the heart of every Ukrainian.

  4. The Malieveld in The Hague is a big piece of grass that’s sort of the official spot for demonstrations. And by official I mean official as in the city directs any big protests there. Small demonstrations with only a few people tend to get held on the square in front of the building where the House of Representatives meet but idk if they’re still doing that now that they’ve moved to a different building due to renovation. That or the square in the Binnenhof which is a very old part of the government complex and houses things like the Prime Minister’s office.

  5. There are several so-called [neutral areas](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&hl=nl&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.84423999999999%2C4.363846999999964&spn=0.009484%2C0.009012&z=15&source=embed&mid=1fSZL7zFMn9RoqSAcjF7v9jWB3sY) in the capital where protesting is _prohibited_: on and around the grand place, in front of the royal palace, and around the different parliaments. Police will forcefully remove any protestors from these areas. Anywhere else in the capital protests are pretty much fair game. Very often they’ll start or end at the Jubelpark/Parc du Cinquantenaire.

  6. The most symbolic location in Latvia is probably the Freedom Monument in Riga, with the square in front of it. Opened in 1935 to celebrate Latvia’s independence and those who fought for it, it’s become a national symbol. The square is always involved in official celebrations and it’s now traditional for visiting foreign leaders to lay flowers at the monument.

    When Bill Clinton visited Riga in 1994 – very important visit for the Baltics – he spoke in front of the Freedom Monument. When a new Latvian President is elected, he or she heads to the monument, you get the idea. So unofficial events also often take place there, though usually not protests. Aside from Latvia having little protest culture, so protests are rare, the square in front of the Freedom Monument isn’t large enough to fit a major protest, and isn’t in sight of any government office either.

    Then there’s another monument, which is easily the most controversial one in Latvia. Usually called the Victory Monument, it’s a Soviet-built monument to commemorate victory in WW2, which is controversial because it uses the Soviet dates for the war and generally commemorates the Soviet view. The monument has been adopted as a focal point by Latvia’s anti-Western, pro-Russian crowd who celebrate there every May 9 at least.

    There’s regular incidents and discussions related to the Victory Monument. In the 90s, Latvian nazis tried to blow it up, events held there tend to express support for Soviet crimes, and it’s generally a mess.

  7. In Copenhagen: we have Fælledparken which is used as the meeting spot for the 1st of May (international workers’ day), and we hage Rådhuspladsen which is used for celebrating sports victories or other important moments (Kim Larsen was honoured there after his death). Kongens Nytorv used to be a spot for students to gather after graduation to dance around the statue in the centre

  8. Reykjavík has Austurvöllur, the square in front of the parliament building, where all self-respecting protests against the government and state take place, e.g. the [Pots and Pans Protests of 2009-2011](https://youtu.be/tIojgEHtJG8) (so called because people brought pots and pans to bang on to make noise).

  9. The Place de l’Europe in Luxembourg City is quite popular for demonstrations as it’s right in front of the European Court of Justice. There are also some other squares that see protests regularly, like in front of the parliament or the City Hall, but recently this place was the most popular

  10. “The City of London” is a 3km² zone surrounded by Greater London. These are two separate entities. The City of London has its own police, mayor etc. separate from Greater London.

    There is a video about it [here](https://youtu.be/LrObZ_HZZUc)

  11. Piłsudski Square is a square in Warsaw where on most national holidays a military parade takes place. It a place of government speeches etc. Also Marszałkowska Street i Warsaw is where most protests and marches take place

  12. >I heard from French that the monument of Jeanne d’Arc in Place des Pyramides in Paris is a meeting point for the far right.

    True. Also, most protests (left wing parties, trade unions but not only) in Paris traditionally go from République square to Bastille square (or vice-versa). For celebrations, like for sports victories, people usually go to Champs-Elysées avenue.

  14. In Czech Republic – Václavské náměstí / Wenceslas Square in the centre of Prague, still the common protest/demonstration place, below some historical moments:

    1918 – Czechoslovak declaration of independence

    1938 – May Crisis, demonstrations against Nazi Germany’s demands for the Sudetenland

    1969 – student Jan Palach set himself on fire to protest the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968

    1969 – Ice hockey wins against USSR turned into celebration that ended up in protests affecting politics, leading to era of “normalization”

    1989 – Velvet Revolution, large demonstrations with hundreds of thousands of people or more were held here that ultimately led to CZ independence from Soviet Union and new democratic era

  15. In Zurich the main square would be the [Sechseläutenplatz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Sechsel%C3%A4utenplatz_St%C3%BChle.jpg/1280px-Sechsel%C3%A4utenplatz_St%C3%BChle.jpg), our biggest square afaik, that is used for a number of things. For starters, on the [Sechseläuten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sechsel%C3%A4uten) festival (which it is named after), a big sculpture of a snowman gets burned on it; it’s also often used as the end point of big demonstrations or as a place for big gatherings.

    Additionally, there is the Helvetiaplatz, which is the usual starting point for left-wing demonstrations (most notably the First of May demonstrations) and other worker-related events. It’s also known as the place where the FC Zürich football team traditionally [celebrates](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Fcz-meisterfeier2009.jpg/1920px-Fcz-meisterfeier2009.jpg) their titles.

    Nationally, political events also often happen in front of the parliament on the [Bundesplatz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Bundesplatz_Bern_im_Sommer.jpg) in Bern

  16. Well, we had. Austria has an…. interesting way to treat squares.

    The Heldenplatz, probably the most iconic square in Austria (its, among other things, the location where Hitler declared the Anschluss), has been paved over and is now a parking lot. There are still historic buildings next to it, and a big old statue of some dude on a horse sits between the cars, but you wouldnt recognize the square as what it is.

    The same has happened to most squares in our cities. They are either crisscrossed by roads or in use as a parking lot.

    Squares in the sense as places where social life takes place and people gather for events or demonstrations are rare, at least in the capital. I think the Karlsplatz might be the biggest one. (The actual Karlsplatz is now mostly a 6-lane road, but theres a park next to it thats kind of like a square).

  17. In Oslo there’s Eidsvolls Plass which is in front of Stortinget, the Norwegian Parliament. Named after the place where the first assembly to make a Norwegian constitution took place in 1814. Every protest or demonstration happen there or end there.

  18. The common place for big events in recent times — demonstrations, World Cup or New Years eve parties — in Berlin would be [Straße des 17. Juni (17th of June Street)](https://image.saechsische.de/954×636/w/f/wfrakyc8rda706wkpv498r07hg4zk16q.jpg) stretching from the [Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Berlin_Brandenburger_Tor_BW_2.jpg/1280px-Berlin_Brandenburger_Tor_BW_2.jpg) to the [Siegessäule (Victory column)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Siegess%C3%A4ule-Berlin-Tiergarten.jpg/1280px-Siegess%C3%A4ule-Berlin-Tiergarten.jpg) and beyond.

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