Fortress Taksim. Reflection and reenforcement after days of chaos and drama. Our reporters Reuben & Gielty take to the streets of Istanbul to find out more about the protestors and their supporters. Monday in Gezi Park saw the protestors fortify the camp and evaluate the progress of the Taksim Uprising. Internally, measures were put in place to strengthen the autonomous structures of the liberated space while on the outside … Read More
The reclamation of Taksim square and the battle of Besiktas
On Sunday Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan responded to the Taksim Uprising with characteristic machismo. In speeches and interviews he called protestors in Gezi Park “looters”, “hoodlums” and “a few bums”, lashing out at social media and the independent press for acting as “provocateurs”. Reuben & Gielty joined the crowds at Taksim. He also suggested “hanging [people] from trees”, a comment widely interpreted as referring to protestors but which he later … Read More
Saturday in Istanbul
The usually balmy sea air of the Bosphorus was yesterday cut with tear gas. What would normally be a refreshing breeze instead burned the throat and made the eyes water. This was true almost everywhere in the Beyoglu district of central Istanbul. By dawn it was clear that June 1st would see hundreds of thousands on the streets. The previous night there had been remarkable flashing light and cacerolada demonstrations … Read More
Turkish Protests Escalate: A day of action begins
The Erdoğan government’s dictatorial approach to town planning has awakened a sleeping giant. In the space of 24 hours a simple protest over a park’s future has become a nationwide rebellion against authoritarian government, violent police and creeping Islamisation of a famously secular society. rabble’s men on the ground, Reuben and Gielty, report. Yesterday saw one of the biggest protests in Istanbul’s history. At 1pm the commercial centre of the cosmopolitan … Read More
Taksim Square Update
Following our reporters’ piece from this morning on the events at Taksim Square (here) things have escalated dramatically. Report images & video by Reuben & Gielty Further attacks by police during the day have left many injured amid chaotic scenes of tear gassing and plastic bullets. Unconfirmed reports of two dead. The Ultras of the three local football clubs have joined together to protest the treatment of civilians and a mass meeting … Read More
A Tale From The Taksim Anti-Mall Mobilisations
Bellowing foggy clouds of tear gas choked the early Istanbul morning of the 30th of May, as police clad in paramilitary riotgear stormed Gezi park in Taksim. Reuben & Gielty have this report from the front lines. (This article was written pseudonymously by Irish journalists Ronan Burtenshaw and Tommy Gavin because of safety concerns.) Using a signal dampener to limit internet use and accompanied by a heavily armoured “Mass Incident Intervention … Read More
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