May 31st. saw thousands of people gathered peacefully in several cities across Turkey to commemorate the first Anniversary of Gezi park protests. Much like the last year of struggles, the people were overshadowed by the excessive, unnecessary, unprovoked police violence that for over the past year has become synonymous with thoughts of Turkey.
What began a year ago as a protest to save a community park from destruction has been transformed by a year of repeated police assaults into a struggle for the people of Turkey to have the basic rights to free speech and to peacefully assemble.
The heavy handed aggression used by Turkish Police to stifle the voice of the people since the first days of Gezi Park has evolved over the past year to a thoughtless, indiscriminate, citizen punishing machine. Combined with the unrelenting state media propaganda that’s constantly villainizing the youth of the nation to enable this type of brutal aggression to be permissible in the public eye, would make the most repressive regime’s jealous and take note.
Over the past year 11 people were killed during protests, 8000 people reported injured, some of those debilitating life long injuries, hundreds have been arrested some even jailed for their social media posts, entire internet platforms like twitter and You-Tube have been banned from use by Turkish citizens.
Yesterdays Gezi Anniversary preparations saw 25,000 police officers, 50 water cannon trucks (TOMAs), a large number of armored vehicles, as well as helicopters, dispatched to prevent anyone outside the ruling parties from having a voice or influence in the future society of Turkey.
Below is a collection of images and video from the days events.
Brutal police attack on Gezi Anniversary marchers near Taksim, Istanbul. Video chronicles the moments when thousands of people are simply marching and chanting slogans when police begin to attack them. Automatic rifles with plastic bullets are fired as fast as they can be fired, indiscriminately at the crowd of people, while simultaneously people are attacked with tear-gas and water cannons. People run for safety.
Moments of people fleeing for safety as police attack then for marching in Istanbul
Ünal Altıner, the police chief of Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district, has been photographed while detaining two children on İstiklal Avenue. He defended his action, stressing that the children were shooting stones at the policemen with their slings, a “crime” that they allegedly committed in the past, too:
One more child was detained on Taksim Square in Istanbul:
A protester was filmed while being beaten with police batons in the Cihangir neighborhood near Taksim:
Police violence marks Gezi anniversary
Young people completely overwhelmed by excessive tear gas exposure.
An unarmed woman was detained in a way that was condemned as a disproportional use of force.
Police resorted to the batons that they carried in their backpacks more frequently than in last year’s protests. Police prevent a group who attempted to cross the Bosphorus Bridge on foot from Istanbul’s Asian side to Taksim in the European side. Cihangir (below) and Beşiktaş are among European neighborhoods. Policemen carry batons in their black backpacks.
Several people have been injured in the initial attack, some of them are in serious condition.
Video: In Adana During a Water Cannon Attack an activist climbs atop one of the TOMA vehicles to stop the spray cannon.
Resistance continued is several neighborhoods well into the night.
