TURKEY/FILE: Amnesty International accuses Turkish police of using tear gas cannisters as weapons against Gezi Park protesters

Record ID: 858129

  • Title: TURKEY/FILE: Amnesty International accuses Turkish police of using tear gas cannisters as weapons against Gezi Park protesters
  • Date: 2nd October 2013
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (OCTOBER 2, 2013) (REUTERS) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OFFICIALS UNVEILING REPORT ON GEZI PARK PROTESTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHER ON TURKEY, ANDREW GARDNER, SAYING: "When you talk about more than 8,000 injuries that took place over the course of the demonstrations, for example when we spoke to the human rights foundation they said that of the people coming to them, over 60 percent were people who had injuries from being struck by tear gas capsules. So it's very clear that police and what we saw from the protest was that the police were using tear gas capsules as a weapon and not in any way tear gas is designed to be used." REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHER ON TURKEY, ANDREW GARDNER, SAYING: "There was a systematic denial of the right of detainees. For example, people weren't held in official places of detention, people were held for a few hours on the street in police busses, then released. It was in this context that a lot of violence was seen in terms of beatings and other ill treatment." ANKARA, TURKEY (OCTOBER 2, 2013) (REUTERS) TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN LEVENT GUMRUKCU HOLDING A NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN LEVENT GUMRUKCU SAYING: "I haven't had chance to read the report in detail yet. So I can not comment on the report itself in detail but from the beginning, every action on Gezi Park, what has been done, what has happened has been conducted with transparency. We have also discussed this from time to time with our foreign partners."
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • City:
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC1I9XK3JKJKXEWIEOZBOUJ294
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Amnesty International on Wednesday (October 02) issued a report on the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul earlier this year, saying Turkish police used tear gas canisters as a weapon, "beat and ill-treated" the demonstrators.
    The protests, which started as a peaceful demonstration against plans to reconstruct the area, turned into a broader show of anger at Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government.
    Amnesty International researcher on Turkey Andrew Gardner said the report detailed examples of riot police using tear gas capsules as a weapon.
    "When you talk about more than 8,000 injuries that took place over the course of the demonstrations, for example when we spoke to the human rights foundation, they said that of the people coming to them, over 60 percent were people who had injuries from being struck by tear gas capsules," Gardner said.
    "It's very clear that police...were using tear gas capsules as a weapon and not in any way tear gas is designed to be used."
    The report called on the Turkish government to change regulations and allow peaceful demonstrations.
    Four people were killed and more than 7,500 wounded in the June crackdown, according to the Turkish Medical Association.
    It largely ended when police cleared a protest camp on the square on June 15.
    The summer protests presented one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's rule since his Islamist-rooted AK Party first came to power a decade ago, spiralling out of a demonstration in late May against plans to redevelop an Istanbul park into a broader show of defiance against his perceived authoritarianism.
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