WHO DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING?
Turkish riot police have moved into Istanbul’s Taksim Square, which has been occupied by anti-government protesters for close to two weeks.Officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets, leading many protesters to flee the square into adjoining Gezi Park, where many have been camping.
Police dispersed chanting crowd and the human chain with very strong tear gas. #Taksim almost empty now. #gezipark pic.twitter.com/7XQ8UOm97u
— Zeynep Erdim (@zeynep_erdim) June 11, 2013
The move into the square by police comes after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to meet the protest organisers on Wednesday. With total cynicism the police appealed to the crowds ”not to attack them” as they themselves attacked with tear gas and smashed down barricades.
Incredibly the police chief claimed they had only come to remove a banner from the statue of Ataturk.
Backed by armoured vehicles, officers wearing helmets and carrying shields gathered around the square early on Tuesday before moving past barricades erected by protesters. They removed protesters’ banners which had been hung from a building overlooking the square.
Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said the police had no intention of breaking up the protest in Gezi Park.
“Our aim is to remove the signs and pictures on Ataturk statue and the Ataturk Cultural Centre. We have no other aim,” he wrote on Twitter. “Gezi Park and Taksim will not be touched.” A similar message was broadcast by police via loudspeaker, but protesters in the square said they did not believe this.
SOLIDARITY APPEAL #turkishrevolution The platform of groups participating in the Taksim Square Occupation are calling for worldwide support and solidarity as they are again attacked, beaten, gassed, arrested and killed by State forces
The BBC’s Mark Lowen, who is in the square, says this was a deliberate show of force that may jeopardise Wednesday’s talks.
The demonstrations are now in their 12th day, with activists controlling much of Taksim Square. The unrest was sparked after police moved to suppress environmental protests over the redevelopment of Gezi Park on 31 May.
Three people have died and more than 5,000 have been injured since the protests began.
The attack seems designed to intimidate and show Erdogan to be a macho hero to his supporters, while cleaning the Gezi park still occupied, for fear of the giant mass protests against him.
The ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) has vowed to begin censoring Twitter in an effort to curb “dangerous” slander, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reports. It quotes Ali Şahin, the AKP’s vice chairman of media, as saying: ”A tweet containing lies and slander is much more dangerous than a vehicle loaded with a bomb. The explosion of a vehicle loaded with a bomb would be limited, but a tweet filled with lies and slander can lead to a climate of conflict. If the situation is serious, necessary precautions must be taken.” Last week the prime minister, Erdogan, branded Twitter a menace to society.
The Spanish Government sells tear gas to Turkey? ¿El Gobierno español vende gas lacrimógeno a Turquía?
[english, castellano más abajo]
A Spanish plane full of tear gas cannisters for the Police!
While the heavy usage of tear gas during the protests which started in Taksim Gezi Parc and spread all around Turkey is under scrutiny, allegedly a plane-full of teargas cannisters have been brought from Spain.
The usage of tear gas in the 12 days protests which started in Taksim Gezi Park and emanated all around Turkey is under heavy criticism. During the police intervention with tear gas, many citizens suffered head injuries due to targeted attacks of tear gas cannisters, and their treatments are continuing in intensive care units. Nevertheless, due to the current allegation of the arrival of a Spanish cargo plane full of tear gas cannisters show that police will not cease its use of tear gas. Continue reading “Spain sends Turks planeload of Tear Gas / España envia Gas a Erdogan??”
New post on Ώρα Κοινής Ανησυχίας |
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Gezi Resistsby selana019 |
ANKARA, ISTANBUL, IZMIR, OCCUPY GEZI, TURKEY, TURKISH SPRING
In #globalrevolution on 4 June 2013 at 02:35
Overlooking Taksim. Via @57UN
June 4, 0314 hrs CET
Dear people,
Throughout the afternoon barricades were reinforced in Besiktas district, not only with stones, but also with lances, Braveheart style. In Izmir massive crowds took the streets while police randomly harassed people along the seaside. On the social media CNN was ridiculed. While the international edition was broadcasting yesterday’s clashes live, the Turkish CNN broadcast a documentary on penguins.
And graffiti, for the record, “rebel so hard tayyip wanna gas me!”
At Gezi Park, medical students prepared a first aid centre, with an
abundant stash of supplies. In the late afternoon, clashes were reported around the country. They were particularly heavy in Ankara, where thousands and thousands of students defied police repression. Continue reading “Gezi Resists: first hand account and photos: Turkish Revolution”
update…
Anti-capitalists-take-streets-turkey-frankfurt-portugal-spain-greece-ireland-london-blockupy/
Brutal-attack-on-save-trees-demo-sparks-turkey-uprising/
4 Demands fromn Tirkish Resistance 2 June
1. THAT ALL THE ARRESED WILL BE RELEASED
2. ALL WHO LEAD THE OPRESSION AND AGRESSION TOWARDS PEACEFUL PROTESTERS WILL RESIGN
3. PROTEST BAN FOR TAKSIM AND ISTIKLAL AVENUE WILL END
4. NO MORE RIAD PLANS (TOKI-AVM-BRIDGE) IN NO CITIES Continue reading “Turkey Occupyers Four Demands. Free the 900!”
After viciously attacking peaceful protestors for 36 hours with tear gas and pepper spray to hold onto the area, Turkish police retreat as thousands of protesters pour into Istanbul’s Taksim Square….
By Guldenay Sonumut in Istanbul
Police have started withdrawing from a main Istanbul square to allow in tens of thousands of protesters campaigning against the potential construction of a shopping centre in a park.
State-run Private Dogan news agency said officers removed barricades after brief scuffles with demonstrators who hurled fireworks at them.
Riot police in Istanbul have fought running battles with thousands of people who turned out to protect a park in the city’s central Taksim Square.
Water cannon and tear gas were used as protesters tried to reach the square and the parliament building in the capital, Ankara.
It all started with a peaceful protest over plans to redevelop the Gezi Parka but it has become bigger than just an environmental protest. It is now a demonstration against the Islamist-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
First pictures, then videos of brutal police attacks on unarmed protesters in Istanbul caused the protests to spread to other cities, with riot police being deployed in Ankara overnight. Continue reading “Turkey: Mega victory demos as killer police retreat”
UPDATE Police retreat as protesters rally in Istanbul square
Turkey arrests anti-government protesters |
At least 60 people detained as Istanbul protest spreads to Ankara and Izmir, with tear gas sprayed and many injured. |
| Turkish authorities have arrested dozens of people protesting in the fiercest anti-government demonstrations the country has witnessed in years, with riot police firing tear gas on demonstrators in Istanbul and Ankara.At least 60 people were detained on Friday as they protested in Istanbul at a rally which began over the demolition of a park, but which turned into a broader protest against what they see as an increasingly authoritarian government.”The protesters are saying that this is not about trees anymore,” said Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh, reporting from Istanbul.
Several thousand people had attended the Istanbul protest, and there is “an assortment of tear gas cannisters everywhere” in the city’s main Taksim Square, she said. Continue reading “Brutal attack on Save Trees Demo sparks Turkey Uprising” |
The Free 