Riot police in Ankara intervene with tear gas and water cannons against protesters

ANKARA

Kennedy Avenue near the U.S. Embassy saw nearly daily police interventions. AP photo

Riot police in Ankara intervened with tear gas and water cannons against a group of 500 protesters after they made barricades with paving stones and roadside signs June 13. Protests were mostly peaceful in the Turkish capital as a critical summit between the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and 11 representatives invited by the government as representatives of the demonstrators of Gezi Park was underway. 

Thousands were gathered at Kuğulu Park in the center of the city is support of Gezi Park demonstrations. However, a small group marched from the park to the Kennedy Avenue, located nearby the Embassy of the United States, where they started to make barricades to prevent the passage of the armored police trucks carrying water cannons. The group chanted slogans for nearly two hours before the riot police that were conveyed from the centric Kızılay Square intervened to protesters about half past midnight gas to disperse the protesters. 

Ankara saw a similar police intervention for the fifth consecutive day. The protests in the Turkish capital were subjected to a heavy police crackdown from the beginning.