Guardian: Turkey has been engulfed by a series of protests across several cities after riot police turned Istanbul’s busiest city centre hub into a battleground, deploying tear gas and water cannon against thousands of peaceful demonstrators.
In one of the biggest challenges to the 10-year rule of the prime minister,Recep Tayyip Erdogan, demonstrators took to the streets of Ankara, Izmir, Bodrum.
The air of government nervousness was reinforcedd by the relative lack of mainstream media coverage of the drama in central Istanbul, fuelling speculation that the Erdogan government was leaning on the main television stations to impose a blackout on the ugly scenes.
Following several days of dawn police raids on the protesters seeking to occupy Gezi park on Taksim Square in Istanbul city centre, the clashes escalated violently, leaving more than 100 people injured, several of them seriously.
Police went on the rampage against protesters who had been sitting reading books and singing songs.
Categories: Europe