Police Siege, Tear Gas, Clashes: May Day in Istanbul
Following the governor’s statement yesterday on the ban of Taksim Square for May Day demonstrations, Istanbul police restricted the access of main avenues and other side streets in Besiktas, Sisli and Taksim districts with barricades.
The restrictions included halting public transport towards Taksim Square which affected local businesses, leaving their shutters down in Taksim Square.
On the other hand, several clashes were reported as demonstrators initiated to reach Taksim Square to celebrate the May Day.
Here are some updates from bianet Turkish and other confirmed sources:
4 pm (GMT+2) : Barbaros Boulevard in Besiktas opened back to traffic. The traffic also went back to normal in Unkapani Bridge.
3:56 pm: Police denied the access of journalists with credidentials to Istiklal Avenue in Taksim district. bianet reporter Nilay Vardar also suffered from the restriction.
3:45 pm Gamze Nihal İyidoğan and Recep Güzeş have been detained in Taksim Square by the police for opening a banner that said "Solidarity Union" in Turkish.
3:32 pm: Top model Tuba Özay appeared in Taksim Square. It turned out that she asked for permission from police officers. She left briefly later on.
1:50 pm: Clashes resume outside the DİSK Headquarters, leaving the building in a cloud of tear gas. A tear gas canister also hit inside a hospital in Okmeydanı.
1:06 pm: Number of detentions exceeded 100, especially with mass detentions in Beşiktaş'ta and Tarlabaşı, ÇHD announced.
An itibarı ile gözaltı sayısı 100'ü aşmıştır.Özellikle Beşiktaş'ta ve Tarlabaşı'nda toplu gözaltılar yapılmaktadır.
— ÇHD İstanbul Şubesi (@CHDistanbul) May 1, 2014
12:43 pm: Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) Crisis Desk ennounced that they could detect around 60 demonstrators detained by the police and 21 injuries.
An itibarı ile toplamda 60 civarı gözaltı, 21 yaralı olduğu bilgisi Kriz Merkezimize ulaşmıştır.
— ÇHD İstanbul Şubesi (@CHDistanbul) May 1, 2014
12:36 pm: As clashes resumed in Okmeydanı district, ETHA reporter Ali Haydar broke his arm after a police intervention. Hospitalized at Okmeydanı Education and Research Hospital, Doğan is scheduled for surgery. On the other hand, European Photo Agency photo reporter Sedat Suna was hit by a tear gas canister in the leg. SoL newspaper reporter Elif Örnek also suffered from a head injury and transferred to a hospital by an ambulance. Her situation is stable.
12:30 pm: Police reportedly staterted to detain protestors in Besiktas distict.
12:00 pm: Police tanks sprayed water cannons at demonstrators in Besiktas.
11:40 am: Police removed a protestor barricade in Besiktas district.
11:20 am: Police attacked the crowd outside DISK Headquarters.
11:20 am: Clashes were reported from the side streets of Tarlabaşı in Taksim district.
11:00 am: Police is warning the group outside DİSK Headquarters to disperse. Some of the politicians in the crowd included Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Levent Tüzel, Sebahat Tuncel (HDP), Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Süleyman Çelebi (CHP) and Alper Taş (ÖDP).
10:50 am: A crowd is gathering outside DİSK Headquarters in Sisli. Announces say that a march will start at 11 am.
9:00 am: A group of 50 people including Türk-İş Worker Union President Ergün Atalay arrived in Taksim Square to commemorate the workers who died during May Day in 1977 in Kazanci Slope, Taksim. The group initially left cloves to the slop and then headed towards Taksim Sqaure to hold a brief commemoration ceremony.
8.54 am: First police intervention in Beşiktaş with tear gas. Police tanks also sprayed water at demonstrators.
07.20 am: Almost all local businesses have left their shutters down as police only let journalists and riot police forces to enter the Taksim Area.
7:00 am (GMT + 2): Positioned in Besiktas district, police started to make anouncements on the arriving crowds to disperse immediately. All roads leading to Taksim Square are blocked by the police. The pedestrian access from akaretler to Beşiktaş is barred as well. Police also blocked the entry of Beşiktaş exit in the Bosporus Bridge as well as the Galata Bridge.