100 Years 1.Mayis Istanbul/Turkey

Today was the first time since the massacre at Taksim Place, that the 1st of May was a national Holiday, and that the march of the Labor-Unions and Communist Groups through Istanbul to the Taskim-Square was allowed.

Several thousand protesters tried to start at around 9 am to march towards the Taksim. The police allowed only about 5,000 to demonstrate legally. All the other people (perhaps 10,000-15,000) where kept away from the main demonstration - soon violent clashes erupted and the police reacted very brutally.

The main part of the march arrived at Taksim-Square at 12 noon - at that time only around 3,000 Protesters where left. But nevertheless they held a "victory-party" - for this evidence of a new form of democracy in the Turkish state.

Around 1 p.m. several thousand additional protesters arrived and where let into the square A lot of people started crying for joy, and some participants of the protests during the massacre in 1977 were also at the Place - and for the first time felt that some small amount of justice had been done.

But the police - and with it the Turkish state - was still there and waiting for a final exhibition of their own power. At around half past 1 (p.m.) the placed the Square under siege without warning and cordoned off about 1/3 of the protestors.

These demonstrators where pushed down the "Siraselvi Ler" and attacked with tear-gas and gas-grenades. Here the violence erupted once more and many banks and commercial shops where attacked. This violence - clearly started from the "Polis" without any reason - lasted around 10 minutes.

Around 2 p.m. I quit my work there. The day will be a historical one - for the Turkish people the question remians how things will procede from were: will democratic institutions spread or will everything return to the status quo of the past.

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