Turkish MP’s spray pepper gas at Parliament

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

CHP lawmakers hold placards that read ‘The official drink of the student, teacher, worker, retired, public employee: Pepper gas.’ DAILY NEWS photo

Two gasmask-clad lawmakers from the main oppositional party sprayed pepper gas at a parliamentary panel meeting, moving other lawmakers to tears and fits of coughing, in a move to protest the police’s disproportionate use of the gas during mass rallies.

The protest occurred during the Interior Ministry’s budget talks at a parliamentary panel, when Müslüm Sarı and Mevlüt Aslanoğlu from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) sprayed the gas at ruling party members. Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin was just outside the meeting hall during the incident and was not affected by the gas. Şahin was a frequent subject of CHP criticisms in regards to strong police reaction against protestors.

CHP lawmakers also held placards that read, “the official drink of the student, teacher, worker, retired, public employee: pepper gas.” Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmakers strongly condemned the move while AKP MP Mehmet Şükrü Erdinç urged protestors not to spray the gas as he had an allergy to it.

All who were in the meeting hall, including journalists and parliament bureaucrats were seriously affected by the gas and CHP lawmakers distributed lemon to reduce the suffering of the affected. Şahin, who entered in the hall after the protest, shook the hands of the protestors and started his budget presentation among the tears and coughing of parliamentarians.

CHP meets with the president. Meanwhile, a delegation from the main opposition Republican People’s Party led by Deputy Chair Gökhan Günaydın held a meeting with President Gül.