What started as a bid to save public land has escalated as youth face riot police with calls of revolution
"What began as a protest to protect a public park in Istanbul from commercial development has escalated dramatically in a week's time with violent clashes between demonstrators and police on Friday leading to an even larger escalation on Saturday as more than ten thousand Turkish citizens faced down security forces in a call for deeper social change.
On Saturday, what started in Gezi Park—where developers backed by the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) hoped to build a shopping mall—has now spread to other parts of Instanbul.As the Hürriyet Daily News reports......
"The protesters are saying that this is not about trees anymore," said Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh, reporting from Istanbul.......
Despite that and following the aggressive use of force on Friday, including the detention of nearly 60 demonstrators on Friday, the protest movement seemed only to spread overnight.
As part of their campaign, the Gezi protest organizers released this poster calling for others to join them:
And, with dramatic photos of blood-soaked protesters at the hands of Turkish security forces via social media sites like Tumblr and Twitter, the support for those who promised to "guard the trees" has exploded......"
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