Ankara: Turkish police sent 94 demonstrators to the prosecutor’s office to face charges of provoking violence during the recent unrest, as growing numbers adopted a silent form of protest inspired by the “standing man.”
The suspects, including 20 members of soccer team Besiktas’s fan club, known as Carsi, face charges of organizing acts of violence and inciting illegal protests, state-run TRT television said. Some members of Carsi were spotted in clashes with police in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, the centre of the demonstrations, and near Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office in Besiktas district, it said.
Meanwhile, riot police clashed briefly with groups of anti-government protesters in two Turkish cities, but there was no fresh unrest in Istanbul where demonstrators switched to silent protests after a heavy crackdown.
A day after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory over the mass demos that have defied his authority for nearly three weeks, several dozen protesters held a quiet vigil on Istanbul’s Taksim Square, standing still and silent in the midday heat.
But the police presence on the square was much smaller than in previous days and the area was mostly overrun with tourists and commuters resuming their normal routines.
The so-called “standing man” protest, which began with a lone choreographer in Istanbul on Monday, also spread to the capital Ankara, the southern city of Adana and the western city of Izmir, with hundreds standing motionless in public spaces in a peaceful act of quiet defiance.
The only reports of fresh clashes overnight were in Ankara and the central city of Eskisehir, where police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of protesters, according to local media.
The protests against Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted government have lost some of their intensity since police on Saturday stormed Istanbul’s Gezi Park, the epicentre of the nationwide demos, evicting thousands of protesters and sparking a weekend of violence.
The park, located next to Taksim Square, remained sealed off by police on Wednesday.
Erdogan on Tuesday told members of his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) that he had overcome the crisis, seen as the biggest challenge yet to his decade-long rule.
