"For this new protest to work," reported one source, "Gündüz's friends positioned themselves outside the square in a bid to prevent well-wishers trying to approach him. One of them, a young woman named Asma, explained, 'We want to protect him from any provocation...He has to be alone in the middle of the square, otherwise the police will use the pretext of a gathering to clear everyone away.'" Over time, "a human chain formed an immense circle around him. Some of the youths there began arguing over whether to join him or stay well clear, as Gündüz's friends wanted." In time, however, Gündüz was "joined by hundreds of others who in solidarity decided to join his protest by standing for hours on end." According to one source, 300 people joined him over the course of eight hours, standing and staring at the Ataturk Cultural Center. Eventually, at 2 a.m., "Turkish police intervened, clearing the square and arresting several demonstrators," claiming that they were blocking traffic. Some sources indicate that there were ten arrests. According to "Reuters", however, "dozens of people who had joined Gündüz at the silent protest were arrested." Some sources maintain that "Gündüz slipped away into the crowd," while "Der Spiegel", quoting Gündüz himself, states that police officers detained him but "weren't quite sure what to do with him." The police, reportedly, wondered: "Was it a protest, or was he crazy? Should they really go after a young man who was simply standing there?" The police searched his backpack, finding nothing, and then "made it clear that he should get lost or expect the use of force." Gündüz told "Der Spiegel" that he then "took three steps back," and when "this didn't make an impression on them…I ended my campaign. I didn't want any further violence." Gündüz became known as "the standing man." The hashtags "standingman" and "duranadam" ("standing man" in Turkish) went viral on Twitter. As news of Gündüz's action spread, other opponents of the Turkish government began to engage in similar protests around the country. In the words of Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist and social-media commentator, the "standing man" concept "spread throughout Istanbul and other cities in several hours." A woman in Ankara chose to stand in a spot where a protester had been killed by police.