Capital city of Turkey rocked by police crackdown on solidarity protest with Gezi Park

As police clashed with protesters in Istanbul, security forces in Ankara also staged a violent crackdown on demonstrators who organized a solidarity protest May 31 against the demolition of Taksim Gezi Park.

Police blocked the arterial roads connecting to Kızılay, Çankaya and Kuğulu Park, the three main focal points of Turkey’s capital city.

Security forces used tear gas and water cannons to quell thousands of protesters. Some protesters were reportedly injured following police’s heavy intervention.

The demonstration had started peacefully as thousands of Ankara locals gathered at Kuğulu Park, their own little patch of green in the center of the city, to show their solidarity with the protesters in Istanbul being subject to a brutal police raid.