Turkey

Turkey police fire tear gas at protestors

Turkey police fire tear gas at protestors

 

Turkey’s police have fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators who were protesting against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On Saturday, police clashed with protestors trying to reach Istanbul’s iconic Square Taksim for a second day of anti-government demonstrations.

According to local media earlier in the day, despite police firing water canon, hundred protestors waving Turkish flags advanced and crossed the Bosphorus Bridge to the European side of the city to try to reach the main square.

Some protestors hurled stones at police.

According to Turkey’s Dogan news agency, some 81 demonstrators were detained in Istanbul.

Clashes were also reported in the Besiktas district. In Ankara, demonstrators tried to march on the parliament.

The unrest erupted into anti-government demonstrations after police on Friday moved into Taksim to break up a peaceful sit-in protest against the razing of a nearby park, wounding at least two dozen people.

Witnesses said several protesters, including two opposition legislators, were hospitalized after being affected by the gas while two others were hospitalized after they were hit in the head by teargas canisters.

A number of protesters were also injured after a wall they climbed collapsed during a police chase. Two protestors suffered broken arms and several others had minor bone fractures.

Protesters have occupied Istanbul’s Gezi Park, near Taksim square, since May 28 to prevent bulldozers from uprooting the trees and demolishing the park in order to replace it with a shopping mall.

Police have attacked the protesters several times in the past four days but they have refused to leave the park.

On Thursday, riot police set fire to several tents and used teargas and pepper spray in a bid to force activists out of the park.

The protesters say Gezi Park, which is a traditional gathering point for rallies and protests as well as a popular tourist destination, is the city’s last green public space.

Hundred of thousands  people have gathered in Istanbul today.

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