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The Grand Turk
Turkey protest: Anti-government clashes spread
2013-06-02
[BBC.CO.UK] Police have clashed with protesters in the Turkish capital Ankara and in Istanbul, on the second day of unrest initially sparked by plans to build a shopping centre on a city park.

Thousands of people packed into Istanbul's Taksim Square, near the Gezi Park, after police pulled out. But the unrest then moved to the upmarket Besiktas district, where police fired tear gas and water cannon.

Officials said more than 90 protests had taken place across Turkey.

A total of 939 people had been jugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
, the Interior Ministry said, as demonstrations took place in towns and cities including Antalya, Izmir and Konya.

Dozens of injures have been reported.

These are the largest anti-government protests in Turkey for years.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said police had made "mistakes" in the force they have used, but has called for an end to the Istanbul protests. He said Taksim Square "cannot be an area where forces of Evil are running wild".

The protesters say Gezi Park in Istanbul is one of the few green spaces left in Istanbul, and that the government is ignoring their appeals for it be saved. Their protest began with a small number of people staging a sit-in in the park at the start of the week.

On Friday, festivities broke out as police fired tear gas to try to clear them out.

Correspondents say that the protest has spiralled into widespread anti-government unrest and anger over the perceived "Islamisation" of Turkey. The perception that police have been heavy-handed, a view adopted by many of the country's mainstream media, has also fuelled the unrest.

On Saturday, in a defiant speech to the exporters' union, Mr Erdogan said the plan to rebuild an Ottoman era military barracks on the Gezi Park site would go ahead as planned.

Referring to protesters fears that the site was destined to be a shopping centre, he said one "might be built on the ground floor or a city museum" but that this had not yet been decided.
Posted by:Fred

#5  "Arab Spring comes to Turkey?"

Probably.

Of course, "Arab Spring" really means "Sharia Winter." >:-(
Posted by: Barbara   2013-06-02 18:46  

#4  Hmmm, Arab Spring comes to Turkey?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2013-06-02 14:57  

#3  It's very lost on those searching for the glory days over there that, to an American, "ottoman" is something we put our feet up on while watching TV or reading the paper...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2013-06-02 13:50  

#2  Ottoman era military barracks

Methinks that's where the instigation lies.
Posted by: Pappy   2013-06-02 10:59  

#1  "sparked by plans to build a shopping centre on a city" sounds rather tame doesn't it.
Time for an Arab Spring I guess. Well they have all those freedom fighters there now.
Posted by: Dale   2013-06-02 07:18  

00:00