BDP deputy shows bruise on body in Parliament caused by tear gas canister during Gezi protests

ANKARA

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy and moviemaker Sırrı Süreyya Önder has been involved with the Gezi protests since its initial stage. AA Photo

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder showed a bruise on his body that was caused by a tear gas canister during the Gezi protests while speaking in Parliament.

Önder had become infuriated when lawmakers from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) were dismissive when he spoke about “tear gas bombs.” At first, he lifted up his shirt in order to show his bruises, but he then grabbed his phone and showed the picture of his wound and the canister that caused it to some of the AKP lawmakers. “This is the bomb that hit me,” he said. 

However, some of the AKP deputies refused to look at the pictures while other shouted “don’t show off.”    
Önder was the first lawmaker to show up at Gezi Park during the initial stage of the protests. He personally joined protesters to stop the Istanbul municipality’s dozers cutting down the trees giving a boost to the morale of the emerging movement. 

That episode had sparked among protesters the idea of camping in the park in order to avoid the dozers coming back and resuming their activity behind their backs.

Önder was injured during a public statement just after a dawn raid targeting the campers on May 31. The police’s intervention while he was making a statement in Taksim Square in front of protesters who were only sitting on the ground triggered two days of violence, which ended only after the police retreated from the park.