Turkish police tear gas anti-government protesters
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at protesters occupying a park in central Istanbul, wounding scores including tourists in the harshest crackdown so far on days of anti-government unrest.
The protest at Gezi Park started late on Monday after developers tore up trees but has widened into a broader demonstration against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Friday's violence erupted after a dawn police raid on demonstrators who had camped for days in the park in anger at plans to build a shopping mall. Clouds of tear gas rose around the area in Taksim Square, long a venue for political protest.
Broken glass and rocks were strewn across a main shopping street. A group of primary school children ran crying from the tear gas while tourists caught by surprise scurried to get back to luxury hotels lining the square.
Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/31/uk-turkey-protests-idUKBRE94U0JA20130531
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Last edited Fri May 31, 2013, 05:22 PM - Edit history (1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/31/a-guide-to-whats-going-on-in-istanbuls-gezi-park/The Actual Park:
In computer translation "Gezi" is translated in "Travel", here is Turkish WIKIPEDIA site on the park:
http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taksim_Gezi_Park%C4%B1
This park is in Taksim Square, which is located in the "New" part of Istanbul (i.e. outside the old walls of Constantinople):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taksim_Square
Side note: The general consensus among historians was Constantinople was smaller then Rome till after the Sacking of Rome by the Vandals in 450 AD (and Rome may have been larger till Justinian made his effort to reconquer Italy starting after 520 AD). During the subsequent Italian wars the population of Rome fell to Zero, with many of the residents moving to Constantinople, making it the largest city in the world. Constantinople would remain the largest city in the world till 1204, when the Fourth Crusade took it by storm (It was replaced by Baghdad in that regard after 1204, but Baghdad itself was sacked by the Mongols in 1258, who pointed out Baghdad was the largest city they had ever taken, which included taking Chinese Cities, and Baghdad till after 1204 saw itself as #2 to Constantinople).
By the time of the Turkish conquest of Constantinople, its population was a shadow of what it had been, huge areas in the cities had become open fields with people moving to small towns within what had been the largest city in the world. Some increase in population occurred under the first years of Turkish rule, but the actual area where people lived stayed within the old city walls till the 1700s. The movement outside the walls in the 1700s was more to get areas where horses and artillery could be trained with then any real increase in population (in fact the location of this park was originally Artillery barracks). The population of Istanbul probably did not exceed the population of 1204 Constantinople till the late 1800s. Thus you have new areas of Istanbul, like Taksim, that were outside the Ancient Walls of Constantinople and tend to be more "Turkish" then the older sections of Istanbul.
Please note, even during the Byzantine Empire the area where this park is located was populated. Its population changed, as did the population of Constantinople changed (and seems to have DROPPED in population after the Turkish Conquest in 1453, till Istanbul expanded back into this area in the 1700s).
More on this part of Istanbul across the Golden Horn from the Bzyantine City of Constanople.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyo%C4%9Flu
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What started as a demonstration about a park is turning into a nationwide anit govt protest. Keep an eye on this
On the left side is whats happening in the streets on the right is what the media is showing.
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A decent-looking and brave Turkish woman in red. And a police spraying pepper directly on her face. This is how all started.
A small-scale demonstration that has started with a dozen people has morphed into a nationwide protest, with violent clashes in many Turkish cities and major streets in Turkey’s financial center İstanbul.
The saga has started when several people gathered in Gezi Park of Taksim Square at the heart of İstanbul, protesting the demolition of trees in an area earlier authorities said will become a venue for a shopping mall. As the police violently dispersed the protesters for three days, the group swelled further and has gone beyond what was a modest protest earlier this week.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his advisers obviously misread the situation, believing that the protest is a marginal rally staged by those who already distaste the government’s many policies. “We decided to do this and we will move forward,” Erdoğan said on Wednesday, further escalating tensions.
http://www.todayszaman.com/blogNewsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=317117
and his party. The police may have been directed to go leniently on them. That may even be part of the problem - if the anti-Erdogan protestors believe there hasn't been a fair hand by the government in protesting that would certainly add another spark to the smoldering kindling....
