Istanbul: government against people

What started as a relatively harmless protest about the removal of a famous park, has now turned into a large, stark demonstration in the Turkish city of Istanbul. Police have tried to violently precipitate a protest. Dozens of people, including some tourists, were injured around the central Taksim Square.

Maintaining the park 

In the last week of May 2013 a group of people most of whom did not belong to any specific organization or ideology got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Their reason was simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of building yet another shopping mall at the center of the city. There are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul already, so the protesters wanted to prevent the destruction of the beloved park.

Non-violent protest

Thursay morning the first bulldozers would arrive to remove the hundred-year-old trees, so everyone went to the park wednesday evening, bringing tents, blankets, books and their children.They spent the night under the trees. Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull trees out of the ground, the protesters stood up against them to stop the operation. They did nothing other than standing in front of the machines.

Violently approaching innocent citizens

There was not yet any newspaper or television channel that payed attention to the protest. It was a complete media black out, so the police could take its course. The police arrived with water cannon vehicles and pepper spray and they chased the crowd out of the park. In the evening of May 31st the number of protesters multiplied and so did the number of police forces around the park. And although the local government of Istanbul shut down all the ways leading up to Taksim square where the Gezi Park is located, yet more and more people more and more people made their way up to the center of the city by walking. They came from all around Istanbul. They came from all different backgrounds, different ideologies, different religions. They all gathered to prevent the demolition of something bigger than the park: the right to live as honorable citizens of Turkey. They gathered and continued sitting in the park. The riot police set fire to the demonstrators’ tents and attacked them with pressurized water, pepper and tear gas during a night raid. Two young people were killed because the police had run them over with their vehicles. Another young woman was hit in the head by one of the incoming tear gas canisters. The police were shooting them straight into the crowd. She is still in the Intensive Care. These people have no hidden agenda, as the state likes to say. 

The money oriented state 

Turkey is being sold to corporations by the government, for the construction of malls, luxury condominiums, freeways, dams and nuclear plants. In addition he government is looking for (and creating when necessary) any excuse to attack Syria against Turkish people’s will. And on top of all that, the government is interfering with its people’s personal lives aswell. The state, under its conservative agenda passed many laws and regulations concerning abortion, cesarean birth, sale and use of alcohol.

'We want involvement in our own city's matters'

People who live in Istanbul should be involved in the decisions that are going to be made regarding the city's benefits and what it does for the citizens. What they have received instead is excessive force and enormous amounts of tear gas shot straight into their faces. 

Localisation

Schools, hospitals and even 5 star hotels around Taksim Square opened their doors to the injured. Doctors filled the classrooms and hotel rooms to provide first aid. Some police officers refused to spray innocent people with tear gas and quit their jobs. Around the square they placed jammers to prevent internet connection and 3g networks were blocked. Residents and businesses in the area provided free wireless network for the people on the streets. Restaurants offered food and water for free.

It looks like residents have mutual respect for each other and help each other, and the government can learn a lot from this.

Sources: click here and here