Riot police fired tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators on Friday, injuring dozens in a bid to break up a four-day protest against a major construction project in Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square.
Several of the injured were left lying on the ground unconscious after police used tear gas and pepper spray on them, while two people were hospitalised with injuries to the head, an AFP photographer witnessed.
In the most severe case, a Turkish national of Moroccan origin had to undergo brain surgery after fractures to her skull, but she was doing well in intensive care, according to governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu.
He said in televised remarks that an investigation was underway and 63 people had been detained for “provoking violence.”
Two protestors suffered broken arms and several others had minor bone fractures when a scaffolding collapsed as they tried to escape the police intervention on the square.
In skirmishes with the police, some of the protesters shouted: “You are killing us!,” and hurled rocks at the security forces.
The gas infiltrated the subway and floated through the windows of passing cars, as ambulances arrived to carry away those affected, including two activist lawmakers.
“They are spraying anybody like it is pesticide,” tweeted one protestor using the handle @blogcuanne. “Kids, babies, the old, tourists, nobody matters.”
Demonstrators have been trying to prevent workers from razing Taksim Excursion Park, which lies across from the square’s centrepiece, the Ataturk monument.
In place of the park, the last stand of trees in the highly commercialised area, a shopping mall is to be built and an Ottoman-era barracks will be restored.
Mayor Kadir Topbas said many among the protesters were people who “genuinely care for the trees and the environment,” but that they were being manipulated by those with “political agendas.”
The park is part of a wider construction project that began in November to pedestrianise the zone surrounding the square, a traditional gathering point for rallies and protests as well as a popular tourist destination.
The controversial project is aimed at easing the chronic congestion in the roads around the square as well as giving the site a facelift.
But critics say the scheme will turn the square into yet another soulless, concrete commercial zone while driving away residents.
Thousands have voiced their support for the protesters on social media in recent days, while Amnesty International issued a statement on Thursday condemning use of “excessive force against peaceful protesters.”
Interior Minister Muammer Guler said government was looking into the claims of the use of disproportionate force, without elaborating.
Reporters Without Borders urged Turkish authorities on Friday to contain the harsh police action against the protesters and claimed that journalists were falling victim to “targeted attacks” as they tried to cover the unrest.
“Currently we are only trying to enlarge the sidewalk and have replaced several trees to that effect,” Topbas said in an effort to calm down the reaction.
“We have a long way to go before said constructions start,” he assured.
But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday the decision had been made and the government would not abandon the project.
“Do whatever you want, we have decided,” he said.
The strong public reaction comes just days after a new law by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that would restrict the sale and advertising of alcohol, a move that has angered many youngsters and fuelled anti-government sentiment in the country.
Erdogan’s populist government, in power for over a decade, is often accused of trying to make the predominantly Muslim but staunchly secular country more conservative.
Police fire tear gas at Istanbul's Taksim Square protesters
