- Title: TURKEY: Thousands of protesters return to Istanbul's Taksim square
- Date: 2nd June 2013
- Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JUNE 2, 2013) (REUTERS) THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE GATHERING IN SQUARE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERING PEOPLE WAVING FLAGS PEOPLE MARCHING INTO PARK VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS IN PARK VARIOUS OF RALLY
- Embargoed: 17th June 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVADLZQANFZ0V94RRKEHXBPDCKJB
- Story Text: Thousands of people returned to Taksim square in Istanbul for a rally to protest the government on Sunday (June 2). Waving flags and chanting anti-government slogans the crowd gathered in the square next to Gezi park where police allowed people to return after two days of violent protests.
Shopkeepers and municipal workers began clearing the streets of Istanbul and Ankara of debris and burnt-out vehicles.
Pockets of die-hard demonstrators lit bonfires and scuffled with police overnight but the streets were much quieter after two days of clashes in which almost a thousand people were arrested and hundreds were injured.
The unrest was triggered by protests against government plans to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks to house shops or apartments in Taksim, long a venue for political demonstrations.
But it has widened into a broader show of defiance against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
