Turkey: Thousands Struggle to Take Over the Taksim Square on 1st of May

The struggle to celebrate May Day in Taksim Square, Istanbul, has once again become the epicenter of the struggle in Turkey. Thousands of people marched toward Taksim Square – a site of great historical significance for the worker movement– displaying a strong fighting spirit and defying the Istanbul governor’s order banning the celebration of International Workers’ Day at this important location.

Extensive footage can be found showing the defiance of the protesters, who, in the face of a massive police crackdown – including a large police presence, water cannons, and pepper spray – continued to fight back against the police and countered the violence.

Partizan marched with the slogan “We are the people, we are fighting; we will overthrow this system.”

It can be seen that the people, despite violent attempts of the police at stopping it, clearly had the will and spirit to dare to struggle, never bowing down for the repression, but defiantly resisting to reach Taksim Square.

According to Yeni Demokrasi , 576 people were arrested during yesterday’s protests. However, most have already been released, as several international rulings have established that demonstrating in Taksim Square is not a crime. The Taksim May 1st Initiative, has stated: “We were acquitted in the courts that tried us. We tried to march to Taksim dozens of times. We were detained dozens of times. We were acquitted in every case. International law makes this perfectly clear. The Constitutional Court (AYM) makes this perfectly clear. This government is committing a crime by closing the squares. But this square proves that Taksim is everywhere, that resistance is everywhere. Today we prove it by walking shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, saying: ‘Taksim is everywhere, resistance is everywhere.’”