Istanbul readies riot defences for Gezi Park anniversary
Tens of thousands of police officers and 50 water cannon trucks will be used to prevent demonstrations marking the Gezi Park protest's anniversary, Istanbul’s governor warned on Wednesday.
The protests are expected to take place on Saturday, 31 May, although it is unclear how many people will actually turn out to mark the occasion.
Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu confirmed to reporters that no gathering will be allowed in the Taksim Square area where Gezi is located, and that the additional security will be put in place to allow ordinary civilians to access the busy central district.
“Groups in small numbers could try to reach their own aims. But we will take measures against it,” Mutlu said.
“We are not closing down Taksim at all. But when there is a difficult situation, measures are taken as a process of a couple of hours or a day. One would wish that both Taksim and Gezi Park will be full of people as they are right now.”
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According to the Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet, unlike on May Day when protests swept through the Turkish capital, access to Taksim will not be blocked by metal barricades, though public transport to the square, including metro lines, will be cancelled. Some 25,000 riot police will be assigned to both Taksim and the roads connecting to the iconic square. Helicopters and armoured vehicles will also be dispatched.
Taksim Solidarity, an umbrella group of protest movements involved with 2013’s Gezi Park protests, earlier this week announced that its supporters would gather in squares across Turkey although the group stressed that it was “not calling for demonstrations.”
"We will be at the squares in order to remind everyone that we have not abandoned our demands and gains to free our squares, parks, streets and lives," said Mucella Yapici, a spokesperson for Taksim Solidarity.
"Those who resorted to violence and caused thousands of people to be wounded and 11 people to be killed - these have not been punished and discharged from their position so far. All of them should be punished and should resign from their posts. Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] is among them," Yapici claimed said in a statement.
The Gezi Park protests began as a small environmental demonstration in 2013 but mushroomed into nationwide anti-government protests.
Erdogan, however, has lashed out at the Gezi movement.
“Gezi Park violence was incited at a time when Turkey was breaking records with its successful economic development and internal peace, stability and tranquility,” Erdogan said on Tuesday.
His statements followed on from the decission by a Turkish court to ordered the arrest of 47 suspects in the Gezi Park protests.
In total, about 255 defendants, including seven foreigners, stand accused of a variety of charges including damage of public property and theft during the demonstrations that originated in Gezi Park, Taksim Square in Istanbul.
Some are accused of “damaging a place of worship” due to the fact that they took shelter from tear gas attacks in a mosque. The 47 newly ordered arrest warrants are due to a failure to enter pleas in defense, a chargeable offense.
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