TURKEY: Protesters injured as riot police in Istanbul clamp down with teargas and water cannon on latest attempt to occupy Gezi Park

Record ID: 862523

  • Title: TURKEY: Protesters injured as riot police in Istanbul clamp down with teargas and water cannon on latest attempt to occupy Gezi Park
  • Date: 6th July 2013
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JULY 6, 2013) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS RUNNING AWAY AS WATER CANNON SPRAYS THEM WITH WATER PROTESTERS DEMONSTRATING AND WAVING COURT ORDER ON GEZI PARK AT POLICE VARIOUS OF WATER CANNON SPRAYING WATER, PROTESTERS RUNNING AWAY RIOT POLICE ARRIVING AND FIRING TEARGAS PROTESTERS RUNNING AWAY AS SMOKE GRENADE CANISTERS BEING FIRED VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SCRAMBLING TO GET OUT OF COFFEE SHOP TARGETED BY TEARGAS RIOT POLICE NEXT TO COFFEE SHOP VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS RUNNING AWAY AS WATER CANNONS SPRAY AND SMOKE GRENADES BEING FIRED PROTESTERS HOLDING A BANNER AS WATER IS SPRAYED ON THEM RIOT POLICE FIRING SMOKE GRENADE PROTESTER THROWING SMOKE GRENADE CANISTER BACK AT POLICE, POLICE CHARGE VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE CHASING PROTESTERS AMID RISING SMOKE FROM CANISTERS
  • Embargoed: 21st July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • City:
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA819BQS1NSYHJ2KO4EX17PUAE
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: At least one protester was injured as Turkish police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse a crowd in a central Istanbul square on Saturday (July 6) as it gathered to enter a park at the centre of anti-government protests last month.
    The Taksim Solidarity Platform, combining an array of political groups, had called for a march to enter the sealed off Gezi Park, but the governor of Istanbul warned any such gathering would be confronted by the police.
    A police crackdown on a group protesting against the planned redevelopment of Gezi Park, a leafy corner of Taksim, triggered a nation-wide wave or protest last month against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, accused by his critics of becoming increasingly authoritarianism after a decade in power.
    Turkish Halk TV footage showed protesters at Taksim square, standing in front of riot police displaying a court decision on cancellation of plans for a replica Ottoman-era barracks on Istanbul's Taksim Square. The plan is backed by Erdogan.
    Authorities can appeal against the court ruling, which was considered a victory for the protesters and a blow for Erdogan, who stood fast against protests and riots he said were stoked by terrorists and looters.
    Four people were killed and some 7,500 wounded in the police crackdown, according to the Turkish Medical Association. It largely ended when police cleared a protest camp on the square on June 15.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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