Police in Turkey attack people protesting arrest of educators Gülmen and Özakça
On Tuesday (May 23), police in Ankara raided houses of dismissed educators Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, who have been on a hunger strike for over two months to have their voices heard by Turkey’s officials.
Following the midnight operation at their houses, Gülmen and Özakça were taken into custody and appeared before the court later during the day.
Photo by BirGün reporter Zeynep Kuray - Beşiktaş, İstanbul
In response to the court’s decision to arrest them, members of a number of civil society groups and platforms, such as human rights groups, associations of legal experts, No Platforms, associations of medics, political parties in opposition, and others, organized demonstrations in big cities.
In Ankara and İstanbul, police attacked protestors on Tuesday evening and tens of people were taken into custody after the demonstrations where police also used plastic bullets and teargas at some sites.
Kadıköy, İstanbul
While 11 people were forcefully taken into custody in İstanbul’s Kadıköy, 13 in Beşiktaş – including lawyer Cem Gök from the shut-down Contemporary Lawyers’ Association, were also attacked by police and taken into custody. Police used plastic bullets in Beşiktaş, as BirGün reporter Zeynep Kuray reported.
Demonstrators who gathered to protest detention of Gülmen and Özakça, as well as, the overall unlawful decisions of the government made in scope of the state of emergency law, were also attacked by police with plastic bullets in Ankara’s center Kızılay. 3 protestors were taken into custody.
Kızılay, Ankara
Kadıköy, İstanbul
Beşiktaş, İstanbul
Beşiktaş, İstanbul