TURKEY: IMF MEETING IN ISTANBUL MARKED BY POLICE-PROTESTER CONFRONTATION

EurasiaNet
g/departments/insightb/articles/eav100609.shtml
10 /06/09

The Tsarist-era Russian anarchist gadflies Mikhail Bakunin and
Peter Kropotkin are widely credited with coming up with the slogan
"anarchy is the mother of order." But on October 6, protesters mainly
demonstrated that anarchy is the progenitor of destruction.

An estimated 6,000 Turks gathered near central Taksim Square in
Istanbul on October 6 to protest the start of the International
Monetary Fund’s annual meeting. Most of the protesters — including
representatives of left-leaning political parties and trade unions
— were peaceable. But the crowd contained the usual sprinkling of
mischief-making anarchists, who proceeded to smash windows and cause
other property damage.

Clouds of tear gas enveloped the area, as Turkish security forces
acted resolutely to disperse the protesters. Authorities also used
water cannon on the demonstrators. Games of cat-and-mouse continued
to play out as riot police pursued protesters into side streets
in neighborhoods bordering the vast square. The Hurriyet newspaper
reported that shops in the Cihangir neighborhood were looted, with
protesters taking mostly lemons in order to counteract the effects
of tear gas.

Officials said they resorted to force because some protesters had
used pepper spray and had thrown Molotov cocktails in the direction
of law-enforcement officers. Fire fighters had to battle at least one
large blaze near Taksim Square that was allegedly set by protesters.

At least 50 people had been detained during the confrontation,
according to officials. A sizable number of protesters and police
suffered minor injuries, mainly caused by the tear gas and pepper
spray. One participant reportedly suffered a heart attack and
subsequently died.

At the IMF meeting, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
referred to the Istanbul mayhem while calling on delegates to rethink
globalization strategies, urging closer cooperation among states in
order to keep opportunities open to all. "The world needs to work more
and think more on this issue," Hurriyet quoted Erdogan as saying. "We
need to listen to the scream from the world, to the demands and the
protests going on outside this hall."

Editor’s Note: Jonathan Lewis is a freelance reporter and photographer
based in Istanbul.