Turkey’s prime minister Tayib Erdogan has called protestors “Extremists, looters and bums” alleging that their uprising has been linked “arm-in-arm with terrorism.”
Have a look at these videos from Istanbul this weekend and see what you think.
These were shot by my good friend photojournalist George Haddad on Sunday. You can see more of his photos and videos here.
While much of the news coverage has focused on violent clashes, thousands of other protestors have been dancing the Dabke and playing music in the streets:
I was also struck by the sheer numbers of protestors in Taksim and elsewhere in the capital and the country. A lot of mainstream media reports have not put numbers on the crowds, but clearly they were in their tens of thousands.
There has been some vandalism, but activists say those claims are exaggerated. Here we can see young people creating barricades in the streets. As you can see the culprits are both boys and girls:
George said the bricks were carefully put back in place the next day. Vandals indeed.
