As protests in Turkey near their third week, two major union federations have called a work strike to oppose the eviction of protestors and demand an end to police violence.
The Confederation of Public Workers’ Unions (KESK) and Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DISK) will organize a work stoppage Monday, an action that is expected to affect hospitals, schools and various public offices across the country.
From BBC News:
The KESK and DISK union federations, which represent hundreds of thousands of workers across the country, said in a joint statement that they would call a strike on Monday over the eviction of demonstrators from Gezi Park.”Our demand is for police violence to end immediately,” KESK spokesman Baki Cinar told the AFP news agency.Associations representing doctors, engineers and dentists have said they too will support it.The demonstrators have meanwhile vowed that they will not back down.”We will win Taksim Square again and we will win Gezi Park again,” Alican Elagoz, a spokeswoman for one protesters’ group, told the Associated Press.
Over the weekend, protesters who had been camped out in Gezi Park were gassed and beaten; hotels in which protesters sought refuge were gassed as well. Police deployed water cannons and percussion bombs as they continued their brutal crackdown against the protestors.
Just a few miles away, Erdogan spoke to supporters who had turned out in the tens of thousands, many of them bussed in to the rally.
Continuing livestream remains available at this post.
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