Municipality hosts fast-breaking in Taksim Square, protesters hold 'iftar' on İstiklal Avenue

ISTANBUL

Istanbul’s Beyoğlu Municipality placed tables in Taksim Square for the first fast-breaking meal of this year's Ramadan, instead of putting up an 'iftar' tent at Gezi Park as in previous years. DHA photo

Istanbul's Beyoğlu Municipality organized a fast-breaking event in Taksim Square for the first night of Ramadan, while demonstrators gathered a few hundred meters away along İstiklal Avenue for their own "iftar" meal.

The municipality placed tables in Taksim Square for the first fast-breaking meal, instead of setting up an "iftar" tent in Gezi Park as in previous years.

Preparations were made to feed around 1,500 people at the site, which has become a focus ground for anti-government protests in recent weeks.

Beyoğlu Mayor Ahmet Misbah Demircan said a "20-year-old tradition" was being upheld through the plans, but in previous years massive iftar tents were set up in the park.

At the same time, another fast-breaking event was organized by the Anti-Capitalist Muslims, a religious group who has been involved with the Gezi Park protests from the beginning. Their table started in front of Galatasaray High School and stretched half the length of İstiklal Avenue.

Hundreds of people joined the event, while police formed barricades with the infamous TOMAs, the water cannon trucks that were widely use to quell the protests, around the demonstrators' iftar table.

Protesters return to park after iftar

After the meal, demonstrators and citizens finally returned to the park that had been sealed off for three weeks after the heavy-handed eviction of the protesters. Another severe crackdown had followed the reopening of the park yesterday. 

Some protesters gathered for a few minutes at the park's Taksim Square entrance, chanting slogans, after which a large crowd gathered inside the park.