Is anyone watching Turkey?

[Catherina]

A demonstrator's clothes are set on fire during clashes with riot police in Taksim square on June 11, 2013 (AFP Photo / Oren Ziv)

Five people have been killed and thousands injured as Turkey continues to be rocked by its biggest wave of anti-government protests in years. Ankara has been criticized for its crackdown on the protests, which it has been trying to downplay in the media.

Lizzie Phelan @LizziePhelan

- Govt badly mistaken if they thought they could end this easily. More ppl coming from Asian side. Shaping up to be most explosive night yet

- Main shopping street #Istikal has turned into battlefield with police firing plastic bullets and gas cannisters

20:18 GMT: Police have reportedly entered Divan hotel, where protesters have taken refuge. There are reports of injuries.

<There are children in there

>

...

Bel Trew - بل ترو @Beltrew

Just found US tear gas canister: made by Non-Lethal Technologies Inc, Pennsylvania in #taksim

...

19:50 GMT: Riot police reportedly raiding a medical tent near Taksim Square.

19:46 GMT: The Confederation of Public Workers' Unions (KESK) and the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK), two of Turkey’s four major national trade unions, will reportedly hold a general strike in response to the police raid on Gezi Park.

19:26 GMT: Benjamin Harvey @BenjaminHarvey

Police just fired year gas at a group of 4 American journalists yelling "we're journalists"

...

More here: http://rt.com/news/istanbul-park-protests-police-095/

ÅnØn_Ønlïnë ‏@Anon_Online 2m

23.40 #Ankara Thousands of #Batıkent #Citizens have closed the #Traffic on the #Istanbul Road RT #OccupyGezi #Turkey

Meanwhile, in the US

Justin Wedes ‏@justinwedes 1h

The energy level at #OccupyGezi NYC in Liberty Sq is rising. #OWS

Tune in to #OccupyGezi raid. RT @Timcast: Police raided Gezi in Istanbul. Live now at http://vice.com/read/tim-pool-live-streaming-from-istanbul …

Same with Occupy Oakland and another few Occupy movements around the US, France, Greece....


This just in

Ali Can S. ‏@Unidadpopular_a 16m

"Doctors confirm that water sprayed from police canons is diluted with chemicals" #direngeziparki #occupygezi

There's so much happening this week.

[Lint Head]

1. The world is turning into a pile of shit. On a positive note...

Until the money grubbing power hungry overlords of society are put in their place nothing will change. The "common people" in any country don't matter to the most powerful countries. It's all about the 1% and who they can control and what people are allow to consume and put up with.

[Catherina]

9. Agreed about the positive note. It's all boiling dowh to class warfare

people are waking up to this. Even in places like Israel/Palestine, it's dawning on people that the real enemy is the 1%, not the immigrants, not the little people terrorists.

It warmed my heart to tune in Turkey's livestream and hear people singing the old classic Bella ciao.

It's like this right?

[ReRe]

32. The People...

... are RISING UP WITH RAGE all over the world. They are fighting for peace and equality in a 1% gone mad world. Thanks for that video, Catherina!

[Catherina]

41. They're gonna rise even faster now

because this isn't just news at DU. This is news all over the world.

Here's another one, just as poignant

[ReRe]

42. We are all Turks Now!!!! n/t

[xchrom]

2. Du rec. Nt

[Gravitycollapse]

3. Odds are pretty high that protester set himself on fire with some sort of cocktail.

That aside, this is a pretty terrible turn of events.

[stevil]

4. All Hell

Is about to break loose....I'm watching this here: http://www.dha.com.tr/dhayayin/

[DearHeart]

8. Thanks for the link!

[Catherina]

10. Thanks for that link! Hell is breaking loose right now n/t

[Catherina]

16. Here's another livestream Tim Pool near the hotel where all those people are trapped

#occupygezi Protesters holed up in Devan Hotel (sp) Lobby under gas attack by | 12:42am local | @timcast | http://new.livestream.com/timcast/events/2161341

Edit: with live commentary in English

[stevil]

21. Thanks

More Tim Pool streaming at vice.com:

http://www.vice.com/read/tim-pool-live-streaming-from-istanbul

[DearHeart]

5. Amazing how the protests were all over CNN for hours the other day

Now with all this shit happening, not a peep from the Corporate Media! Asshats!!

[penultimate]

6. Yeah! It has me concerned how that will play out...

Aren't they protesting the government moving toward an even more Islamic state there? If it turns into a civil war, who would the various players in the area back? Would the west let Turkey fall into a total civil war without trying to stop it?

[cascadiance]

40. I'm worried about the "news" of Syria using gas will excuse moving more American troops in to Turkey

... and that under the covers will be another agenda to have those troops being available to insert themselves in to the Turkey unrest. And then the question would be on which side they would be put on. I don't want them to support the Erdogan government, but putting them in at this point on the side of the protestors would completely blow things up too, even moreso than if we went in to Egypt I think. I hope Obama and the military leadership think about this before even looking at just aerial no-fly zone enforcement, that most likely would need to be done from Adana, Turkey. A pretty dangerous set of cards being dealt now in that region.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Yup, I even asked a journo there

If he can see the similarity with Zucotti park

(Government clearing the plaza using dump trucks)

I expect crickets.

[Catherina]

11. Protesters coming from other areas joining up

ÅnØn_Ønlïnë ‏@Anon_Online 1m

#Gazi #protesters on their way to #Taksim have joined up with those from #Nurtepe RT for #OccupyGezi #Turkey pic.twitter.com/r6FMwbLrY6

[ReRe]

39. I hope they march right up to the MFs...

... and strip them naked of all their riot gear and "non-lethal" weapons and ammo. And let them go running. They need to approach the riot police from all sides and show them who the boss really is, i.e. THE PEOPLE!

[Catherina]

12. Masses walking across the Bosphorus bridge from Asia to support #Gezi

Elif Batuman ‏@BananaKarenina 29m

Masses walking across the Bosphorus bridge from Asia to support #Gezi - video: http://dha.com.tr/dhayayin/

[L0oniX]

13. K & R

The butt head woodchuck fuckers were calling this a temp thing ...how's that working the fuck out?

[Catherina]

14. Are you serious?

I thought it was obvious from the start this wasn't going away.

Any more weak condemnations from the State Department lately? Or are we too busy spinning our lies for the NSA scandal and spinning our words about sarin gas?

[L0oniX]

15. Yea I am. There were plenty saying this was just a local park usage protest.

[Catherina]

18. Like just a Tea Party sitting around a tray of cookies in Boston lol? n/t

[Laelth]

17. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[ljm2002]

19. Thank you for the update...

...there certainly is a lot going on these days. This is really serious. Later this month there will be a general strike in Portugal. I wonder if we're seeing the start of something larger. Well it's certainly big enough for Turkey right now. Here's hoping for the safety of the brave protesters there.

[Catherina]

22. I think we are

The rumblings around the world keeps getting louder and closer

[ReRe]

38. I think...

...the date for the general strike in Portugal is scheduled for June 27th. Two large Unions are leading it!

[Catherina]

20. RT Spanish correspondent hit by a rubber bullet / chemicals put inside of water canons

21:37 GMT: RT Spanish correspondent Aleksandra Bondarenko has been hit by a rubber bullet while covering events in Istanbul.

21:13 GMT: Iatanbul's governor says that reports of hundreds being injured are false and that the number is closer to 29, according to Mahir Zeynalov. The news comes as literally thousands march on Istanbl's major E-5 highway, which is now completely blocked up.

http://rt.com/news/istanbul-park-protests-police-095/

Deniz Yücel ‏@Besser_Deniz 1m

"@Unidadpopular_a: Another proof showing that chemicals are put inside of water canons! #direngeziparki #occupygezi
pic.twitter.com/Ig0DstbVaX"

https://twitter.com/Besser_Deniz/status/346025117056380928

[OneGrassRoot]

23. K&R n/t

[Catherina]

24. Ladies and gentlemen, finally, courtesy of the Turkish govt- the definition of *Terrorist*

Everyone who enters the Taksim Square to be treated as terrorist: Turkish EU minister

Everyone who enters Istanbul's Taksim Square, the heart of the nearly 20-day-long protests, will be considered a terrorist, Turkey's European Union minister said in a televised interview today.

"The police will intervene in everybody who try to enter the Taksim Square treating them as a terrorist," Egemen Bağış said hours after the police's intervention in protesters in Istanbul.

...

Bağış has been criticising the foreign media for exaggerating the protests in Turkey.

June/16/2013

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/everyone-who-enters-the-taksim-square-to-be-treated-as-terrorist-turkish-eu-minister.aspx?pageID=238&nID=48875&NewsCatID=338

[malaise]

26. And that is the problem with that stupid amorphous concept

Politicians decide what it means.

[ReRe]

37. Let's get this straight right now!

... The person giving those orders and those who follow them ARE THE TERRORISTS!

[starroute]

25. Jenna Pope reports police setting fire to trees in Gezi Park

Also, Tim Pool tweets, "A little hurt but fine, resting for now. Will have updates as they come."

[DFW]

27. With about 4 million Turks living here

In Germany, there is hardly anyone who is NOT watching Turkey.

[octoberlib]

28. K&R! Thanks for posting. nt

[DesertFlower]

29. OMG. nt

[AverageJoe90]

30. They're doing everything they can to halt the protests, it seems....

But it's just not working. The Arab Spring has indeed finally come to Turkey, and it's here to stay.

Hopefully, the BushCo. factions of the CIA & the Islamists don't end up hijacking this one like they did with Egypt & Tunisia and tried to do with Libya.....

[eissa]

31. Wow, ACTUAL proof of chemical use

That's more than any proof we have on Syria. So when do we start arming the opposition?

[Blue Palasky]

33. I am

I am not yet 30, and I'm not a nutcase. with that said, give it 5 years and we're going to be at the same boiling point.

the rich, the so called makers, have the pig-headed paramilitary police force on their side here too.

what is most important is that they are outnumbered.

[ReRe]

34. I wish I could see the whole scene in that top photo!

K&R

... were there people rushing towards this person with blankets or fire extinguishers? Anything to put the fire out? Unarmed protesters all over the world are being killed in the streets by their governments.

[jtuck004]

35. Interesting how our corporate media switched sides. Must have been a memo.

At first Richard Engel was reporting about the park protest, and then how it grew after those protesters were mistreated, and then how it really grew as people against the growing and more repressive Muslim government, framing it as every credible source seems to describe it, a battle against those who feel they are losing their democratic principles and being run over by a more repressive state.

Then Airhead Burnett came on and suddenly it was being reported with the protesters as the evil ones and the government just trying to regain control from the lawless terrorists. It's too bad, she almost had a soul when she was reporting with Mark, but whatever she's selling herself for new seems to keep anyone from challenging the pap she is dispensing.

Glad there are real news outlets out there, but most Americans will never see it. But thank you to the folks posting them anyway.

[KoKo]

36. Yeah...it looks pretty bad there..

Such sad news everywhere.

[Kurovski]

43. K&R. (nt)

[marions ghost]

44. K&R

---

[FarCenter]

45. Turkish news web site

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com