Police Violence Subsides, But Assault on Dissent Continues in Turkey
An apology from Turkey’s deputy prime minister saying the violent police crackdown against protesters was “wrong and unjust” may be too little, too late as anti-government protesters brushed off the remarks and continued their demand for reforms on Wednesday.
“They turned this innocent demo into violence… We will never surrender to the police. We want government to step down,” one protester in Istanbul told EuroNews.
“They have no mercy. The police are attacking as if they want to kill us. We don’t trust the police. We only trust ourselves.” said another supporter of Turkey’s new social movement.
And with scenes like this—a collection of video from the last week of protests—it may be a while before those protesting the government and police aggression take seriously the apologies from the ruling class:
Despite a relative calm in Istanbul, the government crackdown continued aggressively in Ankara and other cities overnight as dozens of youth activists were detained for posting information about the protests on social media outlets and accused of “spreading untrue information,” according to the state news agency Anadolu.
Twitter continued to cover the events nationwide:
And new polling released in Turkey revealed a further sense of what’s fueling the protests. The Hürriyet Daily News reports:
A majority of the protesters demanded respect of liberties and an end to police violence while rejecting a military coup against the government.
The rate of those who demanded “an end to police violence” was 96.7 percent, while 96.1 percent demanded “respect of liberties from now on.” Only 37 percent demanded a new political party be established. A total of 79.5 percent of respondents said they did not want a military coup to intervene in Parliament, while 6.6 percent of respondents demanded a military coup. [...]
Out of 3,000 respondents, 75.8 percent said they had joined the recent protests in Turkey by going out to the streets.
Many people made noise from their balconies by hitting pots or turning off and on their lights in the evenings to support the protests across the country, which started in Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square to stop a shopping mall project that was to replace Gezi Park there.
Meanwhile, the Hürriyet Daily News also reported the mood at Taksim Square in Istanbul—where the protests first took root—was cautiously jovial as a the movement known as Occupy Gezi formalized some of its organizing and celebrated the manner in which their efforts have paid off:
The heart of the protests in Istanbul’s Gezi Park continued in a more festive mood, a stark contrast to last week’s brutal police raids on the area. The protesters who took back the park on June 1 were more organized, as medical and legal assistance teams were set up in the square and park. Unlike in previous days’ protests, many young students were seen in the park with their fathers and mothers, or even grandparents. Pop artist Şebnem Ferah also gave a concert during the night.
That doesn’t tell the whole story of the movement, however, as clashes continued in other parts of the country:
Tension was still palpable a few hundred meters further away in the Beşiktaş district, where violent clashes had also broken out over the weekend. Small scuffles took place between protesters and police near the road leading to Taksim.
Ankara, another hot spot of the protests where police had led a brutal crackdown against protesters over the weekend, also saw less incidents. Police forces, who had been instructed not to use tear gas unless they were attacked, held back from intervening, while protesters offered them cloves and took pictures in front of police tanks. However, some clashes were reported near the central Kızılay district around midnight.
And there was more sad news for protesters as the death of a third protester was announced on Wednesday. Ethem Sarısülük, an activist who received massive head trauma after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister in the capital city of Ankara, succumbed to his injuries.
Offering background on the protest movement, the Associated Press explains:
Thousands have joined anti-government rallies across Turkey since Friday, when police launched a predawn raid against a peaceful sit-in protesting plans to uproot trees in Istanbul’s main Taksim Square. Since then, the demonstrations by mostly secular-minded Turks have spiraled into Turkey’s biggest anti-government disturbances in years and have spread to many of the biggest cities.
Protests were directed at what critics say is Erdogan’s aggressive and authoritarian style of governance. Many accuse him of forcing his conservative, religious outlook on lives in this mainly Muslim but secular nation. Erdogan rejects the accusations, says he respects all lifestyles and insists he is the “servant” not the “master” of the people.
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This article originally appeared on: Common Dreams
Source: http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/police-violence-subsides-but-assault-on-dissent-continues-in-turkey/39238/
