Who knows if I’ll be safe tomorrow?

“Dear friends,
I’m safe for now, but who knows if I’ll be safe tomorrow?
Today Gezi Park was full of families with children, old and young people, having fun together. Around 9 pm the police started their brutal attack. In only a few minutes, the whole park was surrounded by police, people were stuck in the park and were attacked with water cannons and tear gas. When I managed to get out of the park, we realized the police also closed all exit to other neighborhoods. Many people tried to get in the hotels just next to the park and fortunately they allowed us. Still when we were just in front of the entrance of the hotel, the police started firing tear gas again. One of the capsules passed above my head and hit my friend’s shoulder. There were countless injured people brought in the hotel and the gas was so concentrated that people could not breathe inside the hotel. Later we managed to get out of the hotel and reach our car, but people said the police also attacked the people in the hotel.
The governor of Istanbul says ‘the intervention was quick and succesful and only a few people were injured and they are not fatal’.
Police violence is dreadful and things start to change here since the PM tries to create a fight between Gezi Park protesters and the people who voted for him.”

Ayse Capulyan

Excerpt from Facebook.

16 June 2013