People run as riot police fire a water cannon on Gezi Park protesters at Taksim Square in Istanbul yesterday.
ISTANBUL: Police stormed an Istanbul park yesterday after protesters defied an ultimatum from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to end their occupation of the site, in a major escalation of more than two weeks of anti-government unrest.
Two hours after Erdogan warned of police intervention if protesters did not leave Gezi Park, the epicentre of the protest movement, police entered the green patch firing volleys of tear gas and jets of water.
Thousands of campers scrambled as police trampled tents, pulled down banners and broke down barricades in the park, witnesses said. A city cleaning crew then swiftly moved in to clear the site.
Earlier, police had already used tear gas and bursts of water to disperse hundreds of demonstrators from Taksim Square, which borders Gezi Park.
The police action sent tensions soaring in the civil unrest that has seen four people killed and nearly 7,500 injured, and has posed the biggest challenge yet to the decade-long rule of Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted government.
The trouble boiled over yesterday after demonstrators in Gezi Park refused to clear out in return for Erdogan’s promise that he would suspend the site’s controversial redevelopment.
Rebuffed, Erdogan poured oil on the flames at an election rally for tens of thousands of supporters of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the capital Ankara. “We have an Istanbul rally tomorrow (Sunday),” the premier told cheering loyalists in a sea of red Turkish flags.
“Let me put it clearly: Empty Taksim. If it is not evacuated, this country’s security forces know how to evacuate there,” he said.
A peaceful sit-in to save Gezi Park’s 600 trees from being razed in a redevelopment plan prompted a brutal police response on May 31, spiralling into nationwide demonstrations against Erdogan.
Mey Elbi, a 39-year-old teacher, was in the park when police entered. “They took our goggles and gas masks,” she said, referring to items the protesters carry against tear gas attacks.
“I won’t give up,” she vowed. “We’re angry, this is not over. The world has seen that together, we can stand up to Tayyip.”
“We will continue our resistance in the face of any injustice and unfairness taking place in our country,” Taksim Solidarity said in a statement. “This is only the beginning.”
While opposition to the premier is intense, the 59-year-old has been in power since 2002 and remains the country’s most popular politician. The premier has insisted the rallies are not meant as a showdown, but loyalists were uniting under slogans saying: “Respect the national will” and “The game is over. It’s time to write history”.
The United States and other Western allies have widely criticised Erdogan’s handling of the crisis, undermining Turkey’s image as a model of Islamic democracy. AFP
