Last Metro to Taksim. From Tahrir to Taksim Square - Opinion. Story highlights Tahrir –Taksim: Comparative and Contrasting Note Several days into the Turkish protests, things seem to fluctuate here.
As Taksim clears up a bit, other rounds of confrontations build up elsewhere. Like a movie sequence, we cut to the well-off Ba? Dat Caddessi on the Asian side of Istanbul, to thousands of Turks clacking on utensils creating a “symbolic political noise.” With the rhythm of protests building up in the evenings and clearing out when people go to work, things are also gaining As Istanbul's Taksim Square clears up a bit after days of intense protests, other confrontations have erupted elsewhere in the city - and across Turkey. With the rhythm of demonstrations building up in the evenings and clearing out when people go to work, the protest movement has also gained some clarity.
However, the events in Turkey during last week are not a "revolution" - not yet, anyway, for those making the comparison to Egypt's Tahrir Square. What is going on then? True. Hugh Pope on the "Istanbul Gas Festival" Last time I was in Istanbul, a year or two ago, I had a chance to have a lovely fish dinner at Hugh Pope's — he writes about Turkey for the International Crisis Group — at his Istiklal Cadesi apartment.
It's a great location to monitor the ongoing protests against Erdogan, and Hugh has a long post up on his blog detailing the events on the day. Here's his take: So what’s new in all this? Social media, for a start. Many of my Turkish friends are glued to their Facebook accounts, sharing pictures of the worst police outrages – a remarkable one shows a policeman dousing a protestor with a device like an insect spray gun, as the protestor holds up a sign saying “Chemical Tayyip” [Erdogan] — and spoof posters like an ad for the “Istanbul Gas Festival”, “We can’t keep calm, we’re Turkish” and so on. There is a little over-enthusiasm in some circles about the scope of these anti-Erdogan protests.
But do read it all. The Right to the City Movement and the Turkish Summer. As I write this, Istanbul is under siege.
The might of Istanbul's entire police force—the largest city police force in Europe—is violently cracking down on peaceful occupiers in Gezi Park. The protest, which began on 27 May, is ostensibly over a planned shopping center to be built over a park in Istanbul's central Taksim Square. Nevertheless, massive popular movements like this do not emerge out of nowhere. Typically, they are the result of the tireless groundwork of activists over the course of an extended period. And then, something happens: a spark sets off the lighter fluid accumulating unnoticed at everyone's feet.
The protests began with approximately seventy Right to the City protesters in Gezi Park on 27 May when demolition of the park was set to begin. On 28 May, a coalition of Right to the City associations presented a petition to Istanbul's Council to Protect Culture Heritage calling on it protect the park. The police violence has been nothing short of excessive. 5 jun 2o13. #Resistanbul : Day 8 / #GeziPark #OccupyGezi #DirenGeziPark. #Resistanbul : Day 8 / #GeziPark #OccupyGezi #DirenGeziPark A Montage of all the police and government abuse towards the people of Turkey during these protest. *Warning, footage is graphic* Another montage of abuse by the police: Pictures from the past 8 days of the #OccupyGezi Protest Photos Source.