Istanbul Protest Photos Show Anger, Chaos

Protesters filled the streets of Turkey on Saturday, the second day of intense clashes between demonstrators and police.

One protester was Gokce, 32, a Turkish businesswoman who asked to be identified only by her first name. She said she had been attending the protests in Istanbul's Taksim Square for three days, and plans to keep going back. Peaceful protests began earlier in the week over plans to redevelop a park in the square, but a harsh crackdown by police has prompted violence over the last several days.

Gokce said the mood on Thursday was like a festival, with singing and chanting. She went home at about 1 a.m., and learned a few hours later that police had pepper sprayed demonstrators who remained overnight. It only hastened her resolve to rejoin the protests that night, she said.

"Me, and I think many of the people who are protesting, are protesting for the first time in their lives," she told The Huffington Post from Istanbul. "They're white collar ... normally, these people don't protest in Turkey. Today was the most significant day of my life."

Gokce said she was angry at the lack of coverage of the protests on Turkish television, and at what she described as the the "arrogance" of Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The prime minister said earlier Saturday that, "Taksim Square cannot be allowed to be a place where marginal groups can freely roam."

"He's saying we're marginal," Gokce said. "It's my uncles and aunts, everyone, chanting. No one is marginal. These are real people."

Schuyler, a tourist from Seattle who asked that only his first name be used, was also at the protest.

At first, "it was a very festive mood, people were smiling and shouting and clapping, sharing supplies," he said in an email.

"The southeast section of Taksim Square was practically walled off by buses, police buses, and vans with water cannons," he wrote. "The police were mainly in a tight formation next to the park, and had their equipment ready. Many protesters began to boo the police, and a few empty water bottles were thrown ... The police quickly lined up their riot shields into a phalanx, sort of like in the movie 300, and began shooting gas everywhere."

See photos of the protest from Schuyler, and other HuffPost readers, below:

• G?lben, who attended the protests, sends this photo. The graffiti bears anti-Erdogan and anti-police messages.

• Schuyler, an American tourist, was visiting Istanbul during the protests. "A lot of people were buying and sharing gas masks on their way - it was a very jovial atmosphere," he writes. "The reporters, like this woman, who were in front of the crowd, had very professional ones."

• "Here's once we got into the square, along with the cop presence, likely from the night before," Schuyler writes. "People were streaming into Gezi Park, pretty peacefully."

• "Another view of the police presence, just before the tear gas was fired," Schuyler writes.

• "This was taken maybe 30 seconds before tear gas started flying," Schuyler writes."Some protesters began to boo the police (which, in large numbers, is pretty intimidating), and throw empty water bottles at them. Other protesters tried to stop them, because they knew what would happen, which is what happened."

• " I turned to get a better place, and when I turned back, the first gas had been launched, which you can see here," Schuyler writes.

• "The protesters were arriving from the south end of the square, not the Istiklal side," Schuyler writes. "People were already pouring in from the Istiklal street. Buses had come around the entrance like that, along with news vans (which weren't reporting, even when things began), and police vans with and without water cannons (one with [water cannons] can be seen)."

• "I didn't have a mask, and I didn't want to be the first one to get hit by the water cannon, so I began to back off when the gas started to fly," Schuyler writes."A gas can was shot way above our heads, and landed behind me, in front of most of the protesters, and so I covered my mouth and nose with my shirt ... One guy rushed forward to it and threw it over a wall somewhere else. I still needed to retreat, so I had to go through the cloud."

• A reader who attended the protests sends this photo from Taksim Square, taken June 1. Thousands are chanting slogans against Turkey's prime minister, she said.

• Protesters deface a Turkish news truck. Many are unhappy with what they say is a lack of coverage by their national media, said one reader who attended the protests.

• Protesters surround a defaced Turkish news truck.

• Protesters gather in Taksim Square on June 1.

• G?lben, who attended the protests, sends this photo.

Ryan Craggs contributed reporting.

HuffPost Readers: If you're in Istanbul, we want to hear from you about what's happening there. Send your stories, eyewitness accounts, photos, videos, and anything else you want to share here. Include a phone number if you'd like to be interviewed. Let us know if you want to remain anonymous.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/01/istanbul-protest-photos_n_3372400.html

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