Thousands return to demonstrate at Istanbul’s Taksim Square
Thousands of people assembled in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Saturday to protest against the country’s conservative leadership, prolonging a stand-off of more than three weeks.
Demonstrators displayed banners with slogans such as “Taksim is everywhere” or “Taksim solidarity, according to ” Voice of Russia.
Traffic was more or less at a standstill, but police had not engaged the demonstrators yet. However, water cannon were on standby.
Police have already cleared the square twice in recent weeks.
The protests began against a planned development project within the square, but have turned into broader complaints about the direction the regime of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken the country.
M.D