Thousands of people are flocking to Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood for the funeral procession of Berkin Elvan, who died yesterday after 269 days in coma.
Some groups put up barricades on the roads leading to a local cemevi, a house of worship for the Alevi community, where the funeral ceremony has started at 12 p.m.
Live footage of the funeral can be found at Doğan News Agency:
After the ceremony at the Okmeydanı Cemevi (1), Elvan will be interred in Feriköy Cemetery (3) following a procession from Şişli Mosque (2) that is slated to begin at 3 p.m. Some groups are calling to march to Gezi Park in Taksim (4) afterwards. Sources say police will let all the funeral-related events in Şişli neighborhood (1-2-3) go as planned by the mourners, but will not allow the protesters to march Gezi Park.
Fifteen-year-old Elvan, the eighth person to be killed in the Gezi Park protests, was sent into a coma after sustaining a head injury from a gas canister as he went to buy bread during a police crackdown in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood last June.
His death triggered nationwide mass demonstrations yesterday.
12 March 2014
Souce: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com
