Advertise On EU-Digest

Annual Advertising Rates

7/9/13

Turkey Unrest - Taksim Gezi Park reopened at midnight after police crackdown

Istanbul's Gezi Park was reopened for the second time yesterday night following a harsh police crackdown to empty the park and to disperse people gathering in Taksim after a decision to close the park on the same day.

The park was opened to public use again at around 11:45 p.m. Around 500 people entered the park following the second opening and shouted slogans to protest the government.

There was again harsh police crackdown empties Istanbul’s Gezi Park, Taksim Square

Riot police used tear gas, water cannon, and plastic bullets to disperse people who had arrived at Gezi Park in Istanbul’s Taksim Square yesterday night, despite the park earlier being officially opened to public.

A 17-year-old boy was severely injured in the head by a gas canister yesterday on İstiklal Avenue, daily Hürriyet reported. A quarrel had occurred between the protesters and business owners when the police intervened with tear gas.

During the police crackdown, around six gas canisters were fired into the garden of the British Consulate off a sidestreet near İstiklal Avenue. British Consul-General Leigh Turner tweeted a picture showing a gas canister within the grounds of the consulate.

Many people, including members of NGOs such as the Taksim Solidarity Platform and the Turkish Doctors Association, were taken into custody in the crackdown. Istanbul Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu told television reporters that 37 people were detained, including seven Taksim Solidarity Platform members, after the police began dispersing people from Gezi Park and Taksim Square.

Read more: LOCAL - Taksim Gezi Park reopened at midnight after police crackdown

No comments: