Turkish police use tear gas and water cannons on Gezi anniversary
Istanbul was on alert on the first anniversary of the massive Gezi protests May 31. Calls were made for street action in the flashpoint area of Taksim Square, which was the heart of last year’s demonstrations. But officials signaled that no demonstration would be allowed in Taksim and even in other parts of Istanbul, as the police ordered a sweeping deployment to crush any attempt of protest.
Tensions ran high as some 25,000 police officers, 50 water cannon trucks (TOMAs), a large number of armored vehicles, as well as helicopters, were dispatched to prevent any gathering at Taksim Square and its environs.
The Istanbul police canceled all holidays and increased the shifts of officers to 12 hours until a second order. Additional policemen from 11 other provinces were deployed to the city as part of measures against possible protests.
“You will not be able to come to those places like you did last year. Because the police have taken absolute orders, they will do all,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during the opening ceremony of a local municipal building in Istanbul hours before the planned gatherings.
Despite the government’s calls, demonstrators gathered in Istanbul and other cities after a calm morning. The police started to use tear gas at 7 p.m.
Police used tear gas and water cannon to push back crowds of protesters who defied a warning by Turkey’s prime minister and gathered in İstanbul and Ankara on the anniversary of last year’s nationwide anti-government demonstrations. Riot police fired tear gas on hundreds of protesters on a main pedestrian street leading to Istanbul’s main square, Taksim, following a stand-off with police. Clashes also erupted in the capital Ankara, where police used water cannons against a group of stone-throwing protesters.
Large numbers of police blocked access to Taksim, and news reports earlier said authorities planned to deploy some 25,000 police officers and up to 50 anti-riot water cannon vehicles around the city to thwart the demonstrations. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned activists to keep away from the square, saying authorities were under strict orders to prevent protests.
In late May and June last year, hundreds of thousands of Turks took to the streets denouncing Erdoğan’s increasingly autocratic leadership and demanding more democratic freedoms. The protests were sparked by opposition to government plans to uproot trees at Taksim Square’s Gezi Park and build a shopping center.
SOURCE: MEDIA
