Turkey protests continue as US (Kerry) voices concern about police use of force (PIC HEAVY)
Last edited Tue Jun 4, 2013, 02:56 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: The Guardian
Following fifth day of demonstrations, Turkish PM lashes out at critics and John Kerry calls for restraint
Constanze Letsch in Istanbul and Ian Traynor
TuesdayJune 4 2013
The US has called for an investigation into the political violence in Turkey and urged restraint on all sides following the fifth day of escalating nationwide protests against the rule of the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In remarks that are likely to provoke Erdogan, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, said: "We are concerned by the reports of excessive use of force by police. We obviously hope that there will be a full investigation of those incidents and full restraint from the police force."
Earlier on Monday, Erdogan warned protesters against taking the country's political disputes on to the streets, signalling he could mobilise his mass popular support to crush the demonstrations.
Sporadic clashes between protesters and riot police continued in Izmir, Ankara and Istanbul, and two deaths were confirmed. Mehmet Ayvalitas, 20, was hit by a car on Sunday that struck protesters in the Mayis district of Istanbul, reports said.
Later Abdullah Comert, 22, died from serious gunshot wounds in the southern city of Antakya, according to the local governor's office, which said the shooter was unidentified.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/03/turkey-protests-us-voices-concern
= new reply since forum marked as read
He always comes up with great insights, I was following him during the Tunisian and then Egyptian uprisings.
Seems like we have an element here who wants to try and quash it too, for some reason.
just to show they are non bias. They can start by telling the Turkish Prime Minister to resign or else.
04/06/2013 / TURKEY
Who are the men in civilian clothing attacking Turkish protesters?
A man in civilian clothing armed with a long baton in the streets of Izmir, Sunday night, next to the police.
Since Friday, protests against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s conservative Islamic government have been springing up in Turkey’s main cities. The crackdown on protesters has been very violent, particularly in Izmir, on the country’s western coast, where men dressed in civilian clothing and armed with long batons have been attacking them, working alongside the police.
(Video at link)
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“They came out a couple hours after a speech by Erdogan calling on his supporters to mobilise”
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It is only on Sunday that I saw a third type appear. They came out in support of the police. I asked a plainclothes officer who they were, but he only said that these men came “from above”. Even if we cannot be completely sure about anything, there are several clues that tie these men to the AKP party.
First of all, these men appeared several hours after a speech by Erdogan trying to intimidate protesters, in which he said: “For every 100,000 protesters, I will bring out a million from my party”. Furthermore, they are armed with sticks very similar to the plainclothes police's white batons, except that theirs are longer, heavier, and are occasionally black instead of white. I don’t think they are policemen: the police, whether in civilian clothing or not, are always well dressed and shaven, given their line of work, whereas these men for the most part are not.
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http://observers.france24.com/content/20130604-men-civilian-clothing-attacking-turkish-protesters?
