holly pickett
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Occupy Gezi
In June 2013, a small movement to save a park in the heart of Istanbul sparked a nation-wide protest against what some Turks see as an increasingly authoritarian government. In Istanbul, some demonstrators peacefully occupied Gezi Park, while others battled police in adjacent Taksim Square and also in Besiktas, near Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Istanbul headquarters. The demonstrations brought feminists, environmentalists, communists, anarchists, intellectuals, football fans, anti-capitalist Muslims, secularists, Kurds, nationalists, and labor unions together, whom Erdogan called "looters".
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Demonstrators marching to Taksim Square.
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Protesters run from a volley of tear gas fired by police while they tried to march to Taksim Square.
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Police stand down and allow protesters to march to Taksim Square and Gezi Park.
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Protesters wear hard hats and gas masks against tear gas at the entrance to Gezi Park.
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Demonstrators hide behind a sign as a flare burns red in Besiktas during clashes with police.
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Police fire tear gas canisters and percussion grenades at protesters in Besiktas.
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Protesters walk away from a tear gas attack.
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Protesters sleep at the Gezi Park sit-in.
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Thousands of fans from Istanbul's three most famous football clubs united in a large anti-government protest in Taksim Square.
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A demonstrator tries to stamp out a fire in Taksim Square.
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A protester sleeps in the early morning in Gezi Park.
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Protesters behind a barricade at Taksim Square.
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Tear gas engulfs police in Taksim Square.
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Heavy clouds of tear gas lingered in Taksim Square next to the park.
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Young people linked arms to keep demonstrators in Gezi apart from large cadres of police in Taksim.
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Protesters run from a water canon laced with pepper spray in Besiktas.
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Protesters chanted and sang in Gezi Park.
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Tear gas clouds in Besiktas.
