The Turkish government had a plan. It wanted to take popular Taksim Gezi Park, located in central Istanbul, rip out its trees and grass and replace it with a shopping mall. After all, the government declared, there were plenty of other parks in the city, and we need more and newer stores and shops. About 50 citizens thought otherwise - they certainly had not been consulted - and staged a peaceful protest. And that's when things turned ugly.
In a heavy-handed approach to end the protests, Turkish police, in full riot gear, turned to two of their favorite friends - tear gas and water cannons. The good citizens were sent packing - coughing, crying, injured. And it seemed the bulldozers would soon enter the park, get on with the business at hand and turn paradise into a retail mall.
But thanks to social media - the mainstream Turkish press downplayed the initial protest as inconsequential news and gave it scant coverage - thousands found out about the Gezi Park plans and brutal eviction of the sit-in and swarmed to the park. The protest spread throughout Turkey as well as cities worldwide with significant Turkish communities, including the United States.
Students at Istanbul Technical University staged an unconventional protest in support of the Gezi Park activists by welcoming a government official - there for their graduation - with a message spelled out using nautical signal flags. The students spelled Diren Gezi with their flags, which translates to Resist Gezi, one of the most popular slogans and hashtags used during the Gezi Park protests.
Thousands of Turks went to Gezi Park and just as many Turkish police. Again, tear gas and water cannons were used to disperse the crowds. Hundreds were arrested, dozens injured. The Istanbul Doctors Association reported there was a "high number of first and second-degree burn injuries sustained because of some substance mixed in pressurized water cannons." On the night of June 15th, police reportedly tear-gassed the lobby of Divan Istanbul Hotel where protestors had taken refuge. The New York Times reported that one foreign photographer documenting the clashes said a police officer had torn his gas mask off him while in a cloud of tear gas, and forced him to clear his memory card of photographs.
A solidarity group associated with the Occupy Gezi movement, Takism Dayanismasi, issued several demands. These included the preservation of Gezi Park, an end to police violence, the right to freedom of assembly and the prosecution of those responsible for the violence against demonstrators. The mainstream media was taken to task and urged to protect the public good and relay correct information while acting in an ethical and professional way.