Peaceful Protest Over Istanbul Park Turns Violent As Police Crack Down |
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Peaceful Protest Over Istanbul Park Turns Violent As Police Crack Down |
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Jun 1 2013, 09:39 AM |
ISTANBUL — Police officers attacked a group of peaceful demonstrators on Friday in Istanbul’s Taksim Square with water cannons and tear gas, sending scores of people, protesters and tourists alike, scurrying into shops and luxury hotels and turning the center of this city into a battle zone at the height of tourist season. The police action was the latest violent crackdown by the government against a growing protest movement challenging plans to replace a park in Taksim Square, Istanbul’s equivalent of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, with a replica Ottoman-era army barracks that would house a shopping mall. But while the removal of the park, which is filled with sycamore trees and is the last significant green space in the center of Istanbul, set off the protests at the beginning of the week, the gatherings have broadened into a wider expression of anger against the heavy-handed tactics and urban development plans of the government and its leader, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His party, now in power a decade, is increasingly viewed by many Turks as becoming authoritarian. Mr. Erdogan still has great support among Turkey’s religious masses, but secular critics cite his government’s sweeping prosecution and intimidation of journalists as evidence of its intolerance of dissent. Much of the anger also centers on the struggle over Istanbul’s public spaces. Mr. Erdogan’s government has proceeded with disputed urban development plans with little public input, while his police forces have increasingly used tear gas against peaceful protesters, resulting in scores of injuries, including the hospitalization on Friday of a Kurdish lawmaker, who had become a vocal participant in the protests, after he was hit by a tear gas canister. The protest movement comes amid continued public anger at Turkey’s policy of supporting the rebels in Syria, which many Turks feel has led to a violent spillover inside Turkey, including recent car bombings in the southern city of Reyhanli, which killed dozens of people. The rising public disenchantment represents a significant political challenge to Mr. Erdogan, who is planning to run for the presidency next year and has been trying to alter the Constitution to create a more powerful presidential system. In the early afternoon Friday, as protesters gathered and began shouting antigovernment chants, police officers in riot gear began surrounding the group, positioning vehicles that resembled tanks at the edge of the square around the protesters, who were mostly sitting. “Taksim is ours; we are not giving it to the A.K.P.!” they chanted, referring to Mr. Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party, known as the A.K.P. As they chanted, police officers casually put on their gas masks and the operators of the tanklike vehicles aimed their big guns, which fire a mixture of water and tear gas, at the group. Then chaos erupted. Protesters and onlookers, some of them tourists, ran down side streets where shopkeepers offered sliced lemons to soothe the burning sensation of the gas, and pharmacists doled out ointments for skin burns. “The pigs, the pigs,” said Esra Yurtnac, who was crying as she sought refuge in a bakery after being gassed. “All they know is how to use gas.” She added, “They think they can silence us with force, but they won’t.” Hours after the clashes with protesters, an Istanbul court on Friday ruled in favor of a petition by a local advocacy group and halted the project until parties submitted their legal arguments to court, the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency reported. The interior minister also pledged on Friday that claims of excessive force would be investigated. The chaos followed a dawn raid on an Occupy Wall Street-style encampment in Gezi Park, near Taksim, in which the police also used tear gas to drive away protesters and later barricaded the park. In an earlier raid on the camp, on Thursday, the police set fire to some tents. The brief occupation of the park, which began after bulldozers had started to take down trees, had taken on a festival-like atmosphere, with yoga, barbecues and musical performances, while those gathered chanted, “Taksim is ours! Istanbul is ours!” The people adorned the camp with banners expressing the rising anger at the reshaping of Istanbul’s urban spaces by the government. One read, “Don’t touch our neighborhood, our squares, our trees, our water, our soil, our homes, our villages, our cities and our parks.” source: http://www.nytimes.com So this is what's happening in my town. |
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Jun 5 2013, 05:42 PM |
I saw this on the other thread and put my opinion there. I'm so sorry of knowing this mate...
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Jun 5 2013, 05:43 PM
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At least they got nice little cold shower ...must have been hot there..
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Jun 6 2013, 03:04 AM | ||
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Jun 6 2013, 03:02 PM |
Thanks guys Here is a photo album I like, it gets updated regularly;
http://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/ Also a letter from Roger Waters; To all my friends in Turkey Sorry for my mistake but its ISTANBUL not Constantinople. Roger Waters I am with you! We are with you! You are so right to resist the forces of autocracy and repression. It doesn't matter who they are. If I read the Internet right, in your case, you are resisting autocratic religious zealots. Turkey is your country and we support you and yearn for your freedom, but also, you and your struggle are so important to the rest of the world. Every time a man or woman or child takes to the streets, and stands up for human rights, for self determination, for democracy, for Mistress Liberty, the rest of the world is in debt. We are not physically with you in the water cannon's fire, in the tear gas clouds, but we are with you in spirit. We applaud your stand for we know it is not easy. Your great country stands at the gateway between east and west. ISTANBUL is legend in the history of civilization. Your resistance today may well be a turning point between all of us and a return to the dark ages. THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT YOU ARE DOING TODAY: With love, and tears, and huge respect, Roger Waters. |
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Jun 11 2013, 08:04 PM |
44 of those 70 lawyers (who were arrested in Turkey's biggest courthouse) were hospitalized. Right now its like day one, tear gas and fire all over the place.
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Jun 11 2013, 09:48 PM |
Cripple being water cannoned
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Jun 13 2013, 12:15 AM |
short clip of a piano recital in taksim square (which is only a few meters from gezi park)...and the goverment still calls these people violant...
gezipiano This post has been edited by Mertay: Jun 13 2013, 12:17 AM |
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Jun 13 2013, 03:17 AM |
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Jun 15 2013, 07:16 PM |
updates in short;
-Erdogan proposed a meeting with the protesters and it ended last night; he agreed to follow the court order (A court suspended any building at gezipark until resolved) and wait till its finalized. If the court agree's that a building can be made theere, there will be a voting process following that if the people of İstanbul actually wants anything built there. At first this might sound good but its actually funny that he "agreed" to wait the court order this really speaks for itself as how he see's democracy, so end result is (only for the tree's in gezipark) after all the blood is spilled what will happen is what should have happened... This of course didn't satisfy anyone as you guys know this wasn't just about the tree's anymore... -He made a public speech in Ankara to his voters today and will again in İstanbul tomorrow; He accused the protesters many things including that they drunk beer in a famous mosque in Beşiktaş! I'm sharing a video of the events in the mosque, it headline translates "entertainment, group sex images (+18) but there is ofcourse no sex in the video there is some blood though so don't let your kids watch this! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151633524003194 -He ordered everyone to evacuate Gezipark, police said they won't feel responcible for what will happen next. We are expecting another attack at gezipark soon... Also friends in Brazil; Never leave home without protection like helmet and gasmask! always stay together even at the worst moments, don't go home alone, don't carry any sort of material that can be considered a weapon and if someone next to you seems dangerous while protesting stay away from him. edit;Right now gezi is under attack. This post has been edited by Mertay: Jun 15 2013, 07:16 PM |
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Jun 15 2013, 09:02 PM |
Stay safe Mertay. I hope these matters can be resolved without more bloodshed.
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Jun 15 2013, 10:25 PM |
Stay safe Mertay. I hope these matters can be resolved without more bloodshed. Thanks, I'll be staying at home today but probably not tomorrow. Right now I read people are requesting things to put on cause the water cannons are spraying chemical added water, emergency doktors takes them off emediatly cause it burns the skin painfully. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=182...e=1&theater This post has been edited by Mertay: Jun 15 2013, 10:29 PM |
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