Photo's of Gezi

what happened in Istanbul?

This page will show in pictures what happened at Gezi park, Taksim square in Istanbul. Please feel free to contribute or comment.

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Gezi Park day 1 - Citizens of Istanbul peacefully protested against the demolishment of the Gezi Park at Taksim Square to make room for a mall. This picture was found flickr and made by Eser Karadag.

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The Police arrived - In 24 hours the police arrived at the park and brutally attacked the peaceful activists with tear gas In 24 hours the police arrived at the park and brutally attacked the peaceful activists with tear gas. This picture was found on flickr and made by Eser Karadag.

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Tear Gas - Tear gas was used. Tear gas was used. This picture was found on flickr and taken by Eser Karadag.

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Citizens gathered and protested against the violations - One day later thousands of people from all around of Istanbul gathered at Taksim Square to show their support and protest against the police attacks.

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Penguins on tv - During the violence the Turkish CNN showed a documentary about penguins. There was no news-report or any documentation about the protests in Istanbul.

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Peaceful activists versus water cannons - Gezi Park resistance started as a protest of a small environmentalist protests against a construction on a small park. Yet it spread rapidly all around the country and people took to the streets in 79 cities (out of 81). This picture was found on flickr and made by Eser Karadag.

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Prime Minister Erdogan and his quotes - "We will not let extremists and marginals to do as however they wish to do in Taksim. The construction that has been going on there for a while has nothing to do with the Barracks." "The police was there yesterday, is there right now as we speak and will be there tomorrow. We will not let Taksim Square to be the place for extremists and marginals. If all this fuss is about a meeting, I can gather one million people where they can gather only a hundred thousand!"

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The Police continued the attack for days - Citizens suddenly found themselves in a war zone. Citizens suddenly found themselves in a war zone. This picture was found on flickr and made by Eser Karadag.

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People from all different believes gathered - In the protest people of all different believes, religions and ethnicities came together and made the same statement. Injustice created unity.

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Social Media - Wikipedia: As a result of the lack of mainstream media coverage, social media played a key role in keeping people informed, with Twitter hashtags #OccupyGezi and #DirenGeziParki ("Resist, Gezi Park") being adopted. In the 12 hours from 4 pm 31 May, there were more than 2 million tweets for the 3 leading hashtags, with 88% in Turkish and 90% of geolocated tweets coming from Turkey. Erdoğan said in a speech that "There is now a menace which is called Twitter. The best examples of lies can be…