May 1 celebrations occur with only minor incident
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 02, 2006 10:06
May 1 celebrations and protests took place throughout Turkey yesterday. The Istanbul neighborhood of Kadikoy held the largest protest meeting, although with an estimated 25 thousand people attending, it was noticeably smaller than last year's protest, which was attended by an estimated 100 thousand people.
The decreased number of protestors was thought to be linked to the fact that the day fell on a Monday, and that ferry boat connections to Kadikoy had been cancelled for the day.
The May 1 protests in Kadikoy started off with a mass singing of the Istiklal Marsi, Turkey's national anthem. At noon, the march began, with some shouting slogans in support of the PKK and imprisoned former PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Shopkeepers along the route of the march had already pulled down the metal blinds in advance to prevent glass from being broken during possible violence. A large portion of the protestors yesterday were made up of Kurdish-backed Democratic Society (DTP) Party members, as well as supporters of the Socialist Platform. Aside from minor violence involving scuffles between the memebrs of these two groups, and an attack resulting in light injury of a group of American journalists trying to photograph the event, no large incidents were reported.
The May 1 protests in Kadikoy started off with a mass singing of the Istiklal Marsi, Turkey's national anthem. At noon, the march began, with some shouting slogans in support of the PKK and imprisoned former PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Shopkeepers along the route of the march had already pulled down the metal blinds in advance to prevent glass from being broken during possible violence. A large portion of the protestors yesterday were made up of Kurdish-backed Democratic Society (DTP) Party members, as well as supporters of the Socialist Platform. Aside from minor violence involving scuffles between the memebrs of these two groups, and an attack resulting in light injury of a group of American journalists trying to photograph the event, no large incidents were reported.