Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Turkey Protests Riot Police Clash With Activists

omer gashi   Published on Jun 11, 2013



Police use rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds, sparking fresh fierce clashes with activists.
Video: Police move past barricades into Taksim Square, Istanbul Enlarge Email Riot police have stormed through barricades to clear Istanbul's main square prompting fresh clashes with anti-government protesters. The big push by hundreds of officers at 9am local time forced many thousands of protesters, who had occupied Taksim Square for more than a week, to flee the area. Diggers mowed down barricades as police used rubber bullets, water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades to disperse crowds, as activists hit back with petrol bombs, fireworks and stones. Police use tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators Protesters ran into Gezi Park where many had been camping - and where the demonstration first started on May 31 as a protest against the planned redevelopment of the green space into a shopping centre. A violent police crackdown then on the protest has turned what started off as a single peaceful demonstration into a national uprising against the Islamist-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that is seen by many as authoritarian. Sky's Katie Stallard, in Taksim Square, said: "Protesters have set fire to their barricades. They have been throwing rocks at police and we have seen petrol bombs being thrown. "What some of the protesters are doing is they are trying to grab canisters of gas and throw them back into the police lines. The police say they are removing banners, barricades. They say that if the protesters leave them to do that they won't touch them. "But what is happening is people are coming out from the park and also the surrounding streets in numbers to try to get towards the police lines. "Once the protesters stop and move back, the police stop too. "In Gezi Park, protesters are chanting their defiant slogans again, while outside police are clearing sections of Taksim Square. "The majority of them are there in the central camp and sitting down and trying to keep calm. "I spoke to one mother yesterday who was determined that they would stay in the park until the end of this operation." Demonstrators had earlier manned the barricades and prepared for a possible intervention when officers began massing in the area and replaced activists' banners with a large Turkish flag and a poster of Mustafa Kemel Ataturk, founder of the republic.

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Police crush barricades in Istanbul square, fire tear gas and water cannons at protesters

View Photo Gallery — Protests continue in Turkey: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that some Turks have taken part in the protests out of environmental concerns but insists that terrorist groups are involved in the unrest.

By Associated Press, Published: June 10 | Updated: Tuesday, June 11, 4:20 PM



ISTANBUL — Hundreds of riot police overran improvised barricades at Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Tuesday, firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons in running battles with protesters who have been occupying the area for more than a week.The police raid, which came on the 12th day of nationwide anti-government protests, sparked clashes with groups of demonstrators well into the afternoon. Many other protesters fled into the adjacent Gezi Park, where hundreds have been camping out to stop developers from cutting down trees in the park.


As police moved in, bulldozers began demolishing the barricades and the makeshift shelters.A peaceful demonstration against the park’s redevelopment has morphed into a test of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authority and a rejection of what some see as his autocratic ways. Erdogan, however, made it clear Tuesday that he had come to the end of his patience with the protesters, whom he accused of sullying Turkey’s image abroad. “To those who ... are at Taksim and elsewhere taking part in the demonstrations with sincere feelings, I call on you to leave those places and to end these incidents, and I send you my love. But for those who want to continue with the incidents I say: ‘It’s over.’ As of now we have no tolerance for them,” Erdogan said, speaking in the capital, Ankara, as the raid was taking place. “Not only will we end the actions, we will be at the necks of the provocateurs and terrorists, and no one will get away with it,” he added. The unrest — which has spread to 78 cities across Turkey — has been inspired in part by what some see as Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian style of governing and his perceived attempts to impose a religious and conservative lifestyle in a country with secular laws. Erdogan, a devout Muslim, says he is committed to Turkey’s secular laws and denies charges of autocracy. Yet as he defended his tough stance, he gave critics little hope of a shift in his position. “Were we supposed to kneel before them and say please remove your pieces of rags? They can call me harsh, but this Tayyip Erdogan won’t change,” he said. Erdogan was referring to the banners and posters that activists had hung from a building and a monument at Taksim Square, which police removed. Erdogan spoke before a meeting with President Abdullah Gul to discuss the protests, their first since they erupted. Contrary to Erdogan, Gul has defended people’s rights to express democratic rights. By afternoon, the clashes had extended to the very edge of Gezi Park, with acrid tear gas covering its sides, even though authorities had promised not to go into the park. Several people were rushed on stretchers to a first aid station manned by protesters before being taken to ambulances. Others were carried, overcome by tear gas. Selin Akuner, a volunteer at a makeshift infirmary at the park, said some 300 people had sought treatment, mostly for the effects of tear gas. Nearly 50 people had been hit by rubber bullets or gas canisters, 12 had head traumas and about eight had injured legs or arms, she said. The governor’s office said one demonstrator and one police officer were hospitalized. 
 
 
 
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