The riots in Taksim Square Istanbul are brought about by the violent crackdown by police on protesters. This is not the actions of a democratic society with the government really having to take a hard look at themselves. The right to peacefully protest should be embedded in a democratic society.

The video on YouTube I had initially attached was taken down, no need to really ask why this happened. It wouldn’t be difficult to comprehend that this published video made the heavy-handed tactics of the police look very poor. Social media in Turkey was closed down, there were limitations placed on communications and I had Turkish friends contacting me by non-social media methods asking me to announce what was happening.