Police intervene against protesters during demos in Istanbul’s Kadıköy

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Istanbul's Kadıköy witnessed a heavy-handed police intervention for the second day in a row on Sept. 11. DHA photo

The protests in Istanbul moved to the Asian shores on Sept. 11, as a several thousand gathered in Kadıköy to denounce the death of a protester a day earlier in the southeastern province of Hatay.
 
Kadıköy, where demonstrations have mostly been eventless since the end of May, witnessed a heavy-handed police intervention for the second day in a row.
 
Riot police officers who were deployed in large numbers started firing tear gas and water cannons in the Söğütlüçeşme area, a major public transportation node, against protesters who were marching from the docks, around 10 p.m. 
 
Police continued their intervention and once again resorted to tear gas and water cannon trucks (TOMAs) to disperse protesters who were gathered near the well-known “bull square” on the main artery of the Bahariye neighborhood.
 
Some demonstrators formed barricades with garbage cans and set them on fire at the entrance of the pedestrian Bahariye Avenue.

Social media users posted pictures of protesters injured during the police intervention and called for medical treatment. 

Demonstrations were also held in Gazi Mahallesi on the European side, a sensitive spot of the city where clashes between police and groups of protesters occur frequently. 
 
Ahmet Atakan, aged 22, died in Antakya’s Armutlu neighborhood during the early hours of Sept. 10 in a demonstration in support of students in Ankara protesting against the construction of a road through the Middle Eastern Technical University (ODTÜ).
 
Conflicting reports over the circumstances of Atakan’s death had also raised tensions. Witnesses and activists claimed that Atakan was hit in the head by a tear gas canister while police said he had fallen from a building.
 
Crackdowns in Ankara, İzmir and Hatay
 
Fresh protests erupted in Ankara’s Tuzluçayır neighborhood, where protests have been ongoing since the crackdown on ODTÜ students, who were demonstrating against a road project through the campus, with reports of police using TOMAs and tear gas.  

In İzmir, police intervened against a group of around 2,000 demonstrators who were marching to the Basmane Square. At least one person was detained.
 
New protests were also staged for another day in Atakan’s hometown of Antakya. Clashes broke out again in the Armutlu neighborhood between the police and protesters, Doğan News Agency reported.
 
Police also intervened against protesters during demonstrations in the southern coastal town of Mersin. At least eight people were detained, Anadolu Agency reported. 
 
Protests denouncing Atakan’s death in the evening hours of Sept. 10 were the largest since July.