Demonstrators
stockpiling face masks and goggles to protect against tear gas, and rebuilding
barricades that have been destroyed
Richard Hall Istanbul
Thursday 13 June
2013
Protesters in Istanbul's Taksim Square are
preparing for further clashes with police, as a leading rights group criticised
an “unprecedented” use of violence by security forces.
An uneasy calm was
present throughout the day in the square and in Gezi Park
— where the protests began nearly two weeks ago over the government's proposed
redevelopment of the area.
Demonstrators in
the park itself were stockpiling face masks and goggles to protect against tear
gas, and rebuilding barricades that had been destroyed by police overnight. A
few hundred police were gathered in groups around the square with mobile water
canons standing nearby.
Around 1,000 people were injured, according to
doctors, as police moved in to clear the square on Tuesday afternoon, firing
volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets. The clashes continued into the early
hours of the morning, both in the park and in the side streets surrounding the
square, as a small number of protesters responding with fireworks.
Amnesty
International harshly criticised the use of excessive violence by police
overnight, and blamed the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for inciting
protesters.
“Never has there
been a time when police violence was this widespread and this sustained. It is
unprecedented,” Andrew Gardner, the group's Turkey researcher, told The
Independent.
“Police have been using tear gas as a punitive
measure, rather than for crowd dispersal as it is intended. There have been
cases where police are firing directly at protesters, causing serious head
injuries. They are also firing tear gas into buildings, which can be very
dangerous.”
He added: “The
violence we saw [on Tuesday] was a direct result of inflammatory statements
made by him.”
The protests that
have been taking place in Istanbul and other cities across Turkey started as a
small demonstration against plans to build an Ottoman style shopping centre in
Taksim Square, but it has grown into a wider movement uniting those opposed to what they perceive as the
authoritarian rule of Mr Erdogan, who had earlier predicted that the protests
would end within 24 hours.
"I have given
orders to the interior minister,” Mr Erdogan reportedly said yesterday
afternoon after a meeting with Turkey’s
shopkeepers’ union. “This will be over in 24 hours,” he said, adding that no
young protesters would should be harmed.
Many of the
protesters also share a concern that Mr Erdogan is imposing an Islamist agenda
on a country that has traditionally been secular — although most of the
population is Muslim.
In one of few
concilatory moves made by Mr Erdogan since the protests began, the prime
minister was due to meet with representatives of group's opposed to Gezi Park's
redevelopment. But members of the Taksim Solidarity campaign group who spoke to
The Independent said the 11-person delegation chosen to meet Mr Erdogan was not
representative of the protesters.
Taking a softer
tone than Mr Erdogan, meanwhile, Turkey's president Abdullah Gul
appeared to concede that it was time for the government to engage with its
critics, but also condemned violent protesters.
“If people have
objections... then to engage in a dialogue with these people, to hear out what
they say is no doubt our duty,” Gul told reporters, according to Reuters.
“Those who employ violence are something different and we have to distinguish
them... We must not give violence a chance... This would not be allowed in New York, this would not be allowed in Berlin.”
Even as Mr Erdogan
has begun to show signs that he is searching for a solution to the ongoing
demonstrations, the number of protesters has been buoyed by people angry at the
violent response by police.
In a makeshift
hospital in the north corner of the park this afternoon, doctors reported
seeing wounds caused by rubber and plastic bullets, head injuries as a result
of tear gas canisters being fired directly at protesters, and severe breathing
difficulties caused by the gas itself.
The first aid
centre is staffed by around 15 volunteer doctors, as well as some medical students
and volunteers. Among them are brain surgeons, GPs and orthopedics, most of
whom said they were apolitical.
The small corner
of Gezi Park was a hive of activity as the
volunteers prepared the space to receive injured protesters they anticipated
would be arriving shortly.
One doctor, who
refused to give her name for fear of reprisals, claimed many volunteer medical
staff had been detained at their homes for treating wounded protesters.
“We think police
have been coming to the park wearing civilian clothes to take pictures of the
doctors,” said the doctor, who works as a GP in Istanbul.
“We are scared to
leave the park on our own now. The police are trying to intimidate us.”
In Ankara and Istanbul,
thousands of lawyers railed against what they described as the rough treatment
of their colleagues, dozens of whom were briefly detained by police in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Sema Aksoy, the
deputy head of the Ankara
lawyer's association, said the lawyers were handcuffed and pulled over the
ground.
“Lawyers can't be
dragged on the ground!” the demonstrating lawyers shouted as they marched out
of an Istanbul
courthouse.
