Protesters get first aid in Istanbul's Opera House turned into infirmary

ISTANBUL

A protester is being taken to hospital after first aid in opera house. DHA photo

The Süreyya Opera House building in Istanbul’s Kadıköy was temporarily turned into a makeshift infirmary late on Sept. 11 for protesters wounded during the police’s intervention in protests denouncing the death of a protester in the southeastern province of Hatay a day earlier.

Some protesters injured during the police intervention called for medical treatment and took shelter at the infirmary set up inside the Süreyya Opera House building by volunteer medics, Doğan news agency reported. Those affected by the tear gas also took shelter inside the opera house. Kadıköy, where demonstrations have been largely eventless since the end of May, witnessed a heavy-handed police intervention for the second day in a row.

Riot police officers, 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.

Police 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 in Istanbul’s Anatolian side.

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).