Protests in Turkey reignite after relatively quiet week
on June 22, 2013
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The protests in Turkey continue, with police upping the use of force to break up even peaceful demonstrations. Via Reuters:
Turkish riot police fired water cannon to disperse thousands of anti-government demonstrators in central Istanbul on Saturday, as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan castigated those behind protests he said had played into the hands of Turkey's enemies. The latest unrest in Taksim Square punctured six days of relative calm in Turkey's biggest city, although it was a long way from matching the ferocity of previous clashes there and in other cities that began more than three weeks ago. Demonstrators threw carnations at a phalanx of officers carrying shields who slowly advanced towards them, flanked by water cannon, to clear the square. "Police, don't betray your people!" activists shouted after they had been scattered into streets leading to Taksim. Witnesses said police later used teargas to disperse pockets of protesters on a main shopping street nearby. Hours earlier, Erdogan had told thousands of supporters in the Black Sea city of Samsun that the unrest had played into the hands of Turkey's enemies.This comes on top of a crackdown on social media and intimidation of the media which appeared to have crushed the protests. The "standing man" silent protests became a symbol of passive resistence. https://twitter.com/Nivrep_Te/status/348540917218680834 https://twitter.com/arzugeybulla/status/348540565236879360 https://twitter.com/Sedat2aral/status/348535744442298369
