Anniversary march halted
ISTANBUL — Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannons yesterday to disperse protesters in central Istanbul who sought to mark the oneyear anniversary of the country’s biggest antigovernment demonstrations in decades.
Authorities closed roads and stopped public transportation to deny access to Taksim Square and adjoining Gezi Park, where a government plan to raze the green space and build a shopping mall sparked last year’s unrest.
Police lines kept back activists who had hoped to read a statement at Taksim Square and lay flowers at the park to commemorate the deaths of at least six people in the protests against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule.
In the ensuing months, six more died in sporadic unrest as anger at Erdogan and his AK Party simmered.
Hundreds of people chanted “Resign, murderer AKP,” and “Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance” on the busy shopping street Istiklal that leads to Taksim. Eventually, police fired tear gas at the crowd, forcing it to retreat.
Police also broke up protests in the capital, Ankara, and the southern city of Adana, CNN Turk reported.
At least three people were detained in Istanbul, witnesses said.
Earlier in the day, Erdogan warned people to stay out of Taksim, saying police would not tolerate a march on the square.
On May 31, 2013, police forcefully evicted environmentalists from Gezi Park who had held a peaceful sit-in for several days to try to stop the government from erecting a shopping center and luxury apartments in one of central Istanbul’s few remaining parks.
Angered by the use of violence, tens of thousands of people from a variety of political backgrounds descended on Gezi and occupied Taksim Square for two weeks before authorities finally cleared the space.