“In Istanbul is het sinds gistermiddag onrustig, toen een kleine betoging tegen het verdwijnen van het Gezi-park uitliep op een grote, grimmige demonstratie. Aanleiding voor de protesten is het plan van de regering-Erdogan om het Taksimplein te ‘moderniseren’, een plein dat voor veel Turken symbool staat voor het seculiere Turkije. Veel tegenstanders van de geplande herinrichting zijn bang dat er een grote, doorzichtige koepelmoskee aan het plein zal verrijzen.
De politie gebruikte traangas en waterkanonnen* tegen stenen gooiende betogers rond het Taksimplein. Honderden mensen raakten gewond. Volgens AP trekt de politie zich vanmiddag inmiddels langzaam terug van het plein.” (bron)
*er zijn geruchten dat er meer gebruikt werd naast traangas en waterkanonnen, zie de eerste reactie van DennaMichelle.
“Most of the newspapers in Turkey are of the opinion that the protests over the redevelopment of Gezi Park in Istanbul have been mishandled by the police and the government, in particular Prime Minister Recap Tayyip Erdogan.
Even the usually pro-government Islamist daily Yeni Safak carries an article with columnist Ali Bayramoglu up in arms about the matter as he asks in his column’s headline: “What sort of peace is this? What cruelty is this?”” (bron)
“Amnesty International claimed two people had been killed and more than 1,000 injured, though there was no confirmation of those figures.
Amnesty’s Europe director John Dalhuisen said: “The excessively heavy-handed response to the entirely peaceful protests in Taksim has been truly disgraceful.”
The US also expressed concern over Turkey’s handling of the protests.” (bron)
"What started the chaos was the morning attack by the cops. On the first day, the cops brutally attacked this non-violent crowd of protesters using gas bombs. Not only that, but they also burned their tents. The protesters gathered again later that day - their size had grown due to the hostile attitude of the police. […] The next morning, the police attacked the protesters even more brutally. When the place became a warzone, they reverted to the infamous “Taksim Defense” that we all became familiar with during the May Day protests. Unlike those protests though, this time the protesters had no intention to cause wanton destruction. The only thing they wanted was to gather peacefully at Gezi Park. They were mostly university students, rather than politicized provocateurs. The police failed to see this distinction. And when they failed, their response intensified. And when their response intensified, so did the response from the protesters. The events spread through social media to millions of people. […]
These people are protesting the fact that there isn’t even a tiny bit of democracy left that would have allowed them to defend some trees at Gezi Park. They are angry that an innocent democratic protest was met with gas canisters and bloodshed. They have neither a leader nor a party. Don’t even try to find some sort of convert organization or conspiracy like you did with Ergenekon - you won’t fool anyone this time. […]
Yes, the people of this country want the economy to be strong, yes, those who love their country are enjoying the peace, yes, they are grateful that the military no longer threatens it, but they also see democracy as a must-have.
If you cannot be free like a tree, you can’t be brothers like trees in a forest.
Do you now understand what is meant by, “This is not only about the trees?”" (bron)
Meer lezen/zien:
Fotoserie BBC
Plaatjespost op tumblr (tw: blood >> ik weet niet hoe betrouwbaar deze post is. Het komt blijkbaar van 9GAG en er wordt gesproken over drie doden terwijl Amnesty International spreekt over twee, maar alsnog geeft het een aardig beeld)
Artikel Guardian
Ik start dit topic om dit onderwerp meer onder de aandacht te brengen. Zie dit dus als een soort ‘signal boost’ en niet als een discussietopic of plaats om te schreeuwen dat “het in Syrië veel erger is :’((!!!1!!”
Dit topic gaat over deze opstanden in Turkije en met name het optreden van de politie en autoriteiten, niet die op enige andere plaats op deze aardkloot.
