Turkish Protesters Remain Defiant

Turkish protesters continue on the 6th successive day to defy the suppression measures practiced by the Turkish police against them with the participation of tens of thousands of people.

News agencies said the protesters on Wednesday took to the streets in the cities of Istanbul and the capital Ankara despite the Turkish government’s acknowledging the “legitimacy” of their demands for which the protests broke out in the first place and its apology for using violence against the demonstrators.

They reported that the Turkish police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators in Istanbul and Ankara who tried to reach the offices of Erdogan in the two cities in indifference towards the warnings of the Turkish police not to do so.

The protests, which have been going on since Friday, expanded to several areas in Turkey, and were joined by the Public Workers Unions Confederation (KESK) that carried out yesterdaya two-day strike to protest at the police’s crackdown on the peaceful protests.

The KESK, which includes 240,000 members, said in a statement that it has decided to support the protest movement in Turkey to express rejection of the terrorism practiced by Erdogan’s government against the peaceful protests in a way that is endangering the civilians.

The Turkish government tried to calm the unprecedented protest movement which started as a protest against the government’s plan to demolish a public park in the middle of Istanbul and later turned into a wide protest demanding the government’s resignation.

According to human rights organizations and doctors, 3 protesters were killed and more than 2000 others were injured, 1500 in Istanbul and 700 in Ankara, in the police’s crackdown on the protests.