resim 3On Saturday, thousands of protesters in Ankara rallied in Kugulu Park. At about 21.00 protesters marched toward Kizilay Square where an estimated 50.000 protesters were attacked by police forces with water cannons, teargas and batons once more. It seems however, that the brutal, confrontational course chosen by Erdogan is not having the effect he may want to achieve. The clashes between police and protesters raged on for four full hours.
Also at about 21.00 o´clock about 20.000 people rallied in the Batikent district of Ankara and protests were reported from several other districts in the city. The strategy of disseminating protests into several districts is stressing the police forces and it becomes increasingly difficult for the police to crack down. As soon as a crowd is dispersed in one region, another protest flares up somewhere else, overwhelming the police´s ability to respond in a coordinated manner. Protests also continued in Istanbul.
The Erdogan administrations attempt to rewrite Turkish history, by transforming the secular republic into an islamist state, the attempt to prohibit the sale of alcohol, the attempt to ban celebrations on the day of the victory of the Turkish revolution, and finally, the attempt to rebuild military barracks from the Ottoman era and to crush down on protesters with a violence that has not been seen in Turkey for decades backfires. Ever more of even ardent Erdogan supporters begin to question whether his policy is acceptable and ask whether he should not step down to let the people decide Turkey´s future in elections.
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