Post date: Jun 03, 2013 5:11:1 PM
Hundreds of protesters take their anger out on Turkey's NTV television station inIstanbul accusing them of censoring police brutality in their reports whilst demonstrators clash violently with police in Ankara.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JUNE 3, 2013) (REUTERS) - Hundreds protested outside Turkish television station NTV in Istanbul on Monday (June 3) accusing the network of covering up police brutality against demonstrators in Gezi park.
NTV aired some of the clashes between protesters and police without audio and the demonstrators accused them of trying to cover up police brutality. NTV denied it saying they had technical problems and that they aired the same pictures later with audio.Demonstrators have accused the media of siding with the government which they say has become autocratic.
Hundreds of police and protesters have been injured since Friday (May 31) in the riots, which began with a demonstration to halt construction in a park in an Istanbulsquare and grew into mass protests against what opponents call Erdogan's authoritarianism.
Erdogan said the protesters had no support in the general population and he gave no indication he was preparing any concessions.
Protesters accuse Erdogan of furthering a hidden Islamist agenda in a country with a secularist constitution. Some object to tightening restrictions on alcohol sales and other measures seen as religiously motivated. Others complain of the costs from Erdogan's support of rebels in neighbouring Syria's civil war.
Still others have economic grievances, viewing the disputed development project inIstanbul's Taksim Square as emblematic of wild greed among those who have benefited from Turkey's boom.
Protesters gathered in Taksim again on Monday. Barricades of rubble hindered traffic along the Bosphorus waterway and blocked entry into the area. Leftist groups hung out red and black flags. Tear gas lingered in the warm, damp air.
Banners called on Erdogan to resign and declared: "Whatever happens, there is no going back."
There were more clashes in the capital Ankara between protesters and riot police who used batons to disperse angry youths and water cannons to put out fires at barricades.
Police also fired tear gas in parts of the city arrested a number of people. More than 1,000 people were arrested over the weekend.
Erdogan has given no indication he is preparing any concessions. Certainly, with his strong support, especially in the heartland of Anatolia, he seems for now safe in his post.
He said plans would go ahead to re-make Taksim Square, long a rallying point for demonstrations, including construction of a new mosque and the rebuilding of a replica Ottoman-era barracks.
Protests have involved a broad spectrum in dozens of cities, from students to professionals, trade unionists, Kurdish activists and hardline secularists who see Erdogan seeking to overthrow the secularist state set up by Mustafa Kemal Ataturkin 1923 in the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.