TURKEY- JUNE 12 ELECTIONS: Ιncredible Violence ...


One man died as police attacked crowd protesting against PM, scores arrested while protesting against police violence  
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Sixty people detained in Ankara, tension sky high
It is difficult to write with pictures of people beaten, attacked with incredible violence, dead bodies, young, women, old, men running to escape police fury in front of your eyes. It is even harder because this violence just seems to get worse by the minute. There seems to be no end to this violence. The state violence, the government violence.
Prime Minister Erdoğan seemed determined to prevent anyone protesting against him and his government by ordering the police to literally quash them.
The chronicle of today is a chronicle of escalating violence. People with blood on their faces, people baton charged by police, tear gas thrown with the precise aim to hit. More violence, more detentions. On Erdoğan's side, one of his bodyguard is said to be in critical conditions after falling from the roof of a bus, part of the Prime Minister's election convoy.
After learning of the death of fifty four years old teacher Metin Lokumcu in Hopa, people took to the streets in many cities around the country to protest loudly against this violence.
They were met by more violence. Scores have been detained. At least seventy people have been taken into custody in Ankara, after police attacked the crowd. In Istanbul Taksim square demonstrators were attacked by police. And it has been like that all afternoon.
Tomorrow Erdoğan will be in Diyarbakir and already he has been told he is not welcomed. But he will go. In the last act of arrogance and defiance. The Prime Minister and his government seem to have lost it and this is dangerous.

NUCAN CUDI - ANF / ANKARA
31 May 2011
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Nine people were wounded and six others were overcome by pepper gas sprayed by the police, Hopa State Hospital authorities told the Hürriyet Daily News over the phone. DHA photo
 
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Protests, death mar Turkish PM Erdoğan's election rally in Hopa 

Tuesday, May 31, 2011
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s election rally Tuesday in Hopa was marred by protests that resulted in the death of one local resident and the injury of one of the prime minister’s bodyguards.
The bodyguard fell from the top of the prime minister’s bus and was transferred to a hospital in nearby Trabzon for treatment, the Doğan news agency reported, adding that he was in serious condition.
The Anatolia news agency reported, however, that the police officer fell after being hit by a rock thrown at the bus in Hopa, a city on the Georgian border.
Metin Lokumcu, a retired teacher, died in the hospital due to a heart attack, reportedly after collapsing during a police crackdown in the city. Lokumcu’s friends said he was kicked by a police officer while already on the ground due to the gas bombs used by the police.
Nine people were wounded and six others were overcome by pepper gas sprayed by the police, Hopa State Hospital authorities told the Hürriyet Daily News over the phone.
Sedat Varan, the owner of the local newspaper 08 Haber Gazetesi, told the Daily News that the number of protesters was 100 at most but that the tension was still high in Hopa.
“The relatives of Lokumcu and some protesters gathered in front of the Hopa State Hospital, demanding to take the body,” he said. “The officials denied the request as the body was sent to be autopsied and the gendarmerie took over control from the police in the district.”
Varan said another protest was expected at the funeral ceremony scheduled for Wednesday.
Suat Kılıç, the deputy parliamentary group leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, claimed the protests in Hopa were “proof of the close relationship” between the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, and the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP.
“Just like the BDP supporters, the CHP supporters helped by throwing rocks, invading squares and [holding] illegal protests,” Kılıç told reporters in Samsun. “The biggest threat to democracy now is the fury of the CHP. Of course, this fury will be answered by the people in the June 12 elections.”
İsmet Şahin, who sought to be a BDP-supported candidate from Istanbul’s 2nd Region, said the protests in Hopa were organized by thousands of people.
He also said the prime minister had bused in supporters from the provinces of Trabzon and Rize because AKP officials could not get Hopa residents to join the rally.
“Hopa locals have resisted other rightist parties entering the district as well, and the AKP was warned three days ago not to organize the meeting,” Şahin said. “But the prime minister stubbornly changed the location of the meeting from the Artvin city center to Hopa, where leftist groups have the political power.”
Protests and clashes between the police and the protesters continued for the whole day, although they were not covered by television channels.
According to Şahin, police kicked Lokumcu for not standing up and doctors also reported signs of physical mistreatment and broken bones.
“This is a critical moment. The prime minister has been sufficiently informed by his advisers as well, and came [to the city] aware of what the consequences could be,” Şahin said, adding that no other ministers or prime ministers had visited Hopa before.
“Hopa has similarly resisted other rightist leaders as well. [Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, leader] Devlet Bahçeli respected this, and did not come to Hopa,” he said.
According to Şahin, the situation is critical, particularly for young people. “There might be more protests [in the coming days],” he said.
The protests in Hopa started before Erdoğan’s arrival in the coastal town. A group of demonstrators hung a huge banner, reading “Erdoğan, get out of Hopa,” on a building overseeing the square where the prime minister would hold his rally. Another building in the square bore a huge banner for the main opposition CHP.

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31-5-2011