Main opposition deputies stage sit-in to prevent police intervention in Ankara

ANKARA

CHP deputy group chair Emine Ülker Tarhan (C) and other five deputies staged a sit-in protest in front of riot police. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

A group of deputies from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) staged a sit-in on June 15 to prevent a police intervention against thousands of protesters gathered in Ankara, after the heavy-handed evacuation of Istanbul’s Gezi Park triggered an outcry across the country.

CHP deputy group chair Emine Ülker Tarhan and other five deputies stayed more than two hours and negotiated with the police, assuring them that the protesters would not throw objects.

“In Ankara, we don’t want to go through the scenes that happened after the intervention in Gezi Park,” Tarhan told police officers. Police also gave guarantees that there would be no intervention if there was no provocation.

Tension was already high in Ankara where police had intervened for six consecutive days, with 30 people taken into custody on June 14. Outrage had peaked yesterday following another brutal crackdown on Istanbul’s Gezi Park and hours of clashes between the police and peaceful protesters across the city.

The intervention to the park came only one hour after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave an ultimatum to protesters to leave the park.