Vancouver Observer "Istanbul protests:Ordinary people, marching everywhere" Jun 2nd, 2013

I start my Saturday morning on Skype with friends and colleagues in Istanbul, trying to find out more about what’s happening there. Early Friday morning, police moved in to break up a peaceful protest in Gezi Park, which the government plans to destroy in order to build a shopping mall.

So what’s the big deal? Happens all the time, right?

Not with tear gas. Not setting fire to the tents of the demonstrators.

There are other factors at work here. This is one of the last green public spaces in central Istanbul. And there’s an appeal that has not yet been adjudicated in the court system. And it comes a week after sudden and repressive new alcohol laws take effect, on the heels of more and more legislation that affects people’s private lives, whether or not they are practicing Muslims.

“This is not about a park,” claims one Facebook meme that has been shared 26,642 times, when last I looked. “It’s about not being heard … about the abuse of state power ... media being censored… minorities not being protected.”
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