Turkish police cordoned off the area around Istanbul’s Taksim Square to prevent any May Day gatherings from taking place in the area, which became the focus of a wave of protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2013.
High metal barriers were placed around the square, where the famous pedestrianized Istiklal Avenue ends.
‘May 1’ blockade in Istanbul!
While the government decided to ban Taksim Square on May 1, barriers began to be placed at many points centered around Taksim Square.— Soner Alemdağ 🇹🇷🇦🇿 (@AlemdagSoner) April 30, 2024
More than 42,000 police officers will be deployed in Istanbul tomorrow, Wednesday, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Gerlikaya warned.
“We will not allow terrorist organizations to make May Day a field of action and propaganda,” he warned.
Gatherings have not been allowed in Taksim Square for years, but trade unions and political organizations regularly invite their members to gather there.
Several of them asked for a march to this square tomorrow.
Taksim Square and neighboring Gezi Park, located on the European side of Istanbul, were the focus of an unprecedented wave of protests in 2013 targeting the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister since 2003.
President Erdogan’s Islamist-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered a crushing defeat in March 31 local elections, its worst defeat in two decades in power.
Istanbul, the country’s largest city and financial capital, remained in the hands of the social democratic Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkey’s largest opposition party.
“Taksim Square is a trauma for the AKP government (…) We will not give it up,” Deniz Yucel, CHP vice president and spokesman, said on Monday.
Taksim on May 1
They are in a rush to close it to the public!
Because the fire in Taksim
Gezi Spirit nightmares!
Because the people’s forces of May 1
uniting/massifying quality
mortal fears! There is no escape:
They will eventually drown in their fear!#1MAYIS #Improvisation pic.twitter.com/ZUdQaQyO7C— Nihat Behram (@nihatbehramoglu) April 30, 2024
#Istanbul #Day #gatherings #banned #Taksim #Square #Barricades #erected
