The peaceful protests that started in Gezi Park and Taksim Square
in Istanbul approximately a month ago are winding down in the face of
extreme police brutality. At the peak of the demonstrations well over
2.5 million people took to the streets in protest, and 79 of Turkeys
81 provinces were involved in demonstrations. Though the large
protest are fading out, there has been a rise in passive resistance similar
to the “standing man” protest in which individuals or small
groups stand motionless at random locations staring at a portrait
of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, or the Turkish
flag.
As the protests deminish in volume and number, the state
moves in with its usual brutal reprisals against those who had the
courage to demand change. Four people have been killed and well over
8,000 injured since May 28. Some of the injuries are severe, 11 have
lost eyes and at least 60 are in a serious condition. The number
detained by the police is proving difficult to assess as information
is not readily released, but estimates put the figure at over 5,000.
Also being targetted are journalist who reported on the protest or
complained about the Turkey's babbling brook of bullshit, the
mainstream media's lack of coverage, along with artists and writters
who showed support for the protests.
The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdgan, stated that
what the police had done was heroic, a defence of democracy. How
teargassing and bludgeoning more that 2.5 million of your citizens,
and then detaining over 5,000, can be classed as a defence of
democracy, defies logic. That, of course, is the logic of the state,
the state apparatus comes before the people.
