Istanbul‘s Taksim Square has always been a symbol of secular Turkey. The traffic junction at the end of Istikal, Istanbul‘s main shopping strip, is a place where business people, pleasure-seekers and tourists cross paths. During the protests, it was an ideal meeting place; people could stop by when they were shopping or coming home from work and participate in the demonstrations for a bit. As such, the protest could flare up in different places at any time. This contemporary guerrilla tactic made it distinctly more challenging for police to suppress the demonstrations. The „Atatürk Cultural Center“, a concert and conference building near Gezi Park that has been in dire need of restoration for years, was also occupied by demonstrators during the protests. The façades were covered with banners. After the police had cleared the building, they replaced the banners with a Turkish flag and a portrait of Atatürk. Since then, the police have used the building as an assembly point for quick intervention in the event of new protests: „The real street is difficult to control, and that‘s an indication that the metaphorical street is not so much deserted as already controlled.“ (Bayat)