Police intervene in 'Saturday Mothers' protest at Galatasaray

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

31 August,1998, 

Istanbul - Turkish Daily News 

Police intervened Saturday in a protest being staged in front of
Galatasaray Lycee by the so-called "Saturday Mothers," taking more
than 100 participants into custody.

A group of mothers, students and intellectuals who tried to gather at
the entrance to the lycee, located in Istanbul's Beyoglu district,
were warned by police to halt their activities. The protestors,
however, did not heed the police warning and started walking up
Istiklal Caddesi to Taksim Square.

One mother at the head of the group told police that their aim was to
protest quietly and peacefully.  Police intervened after five minutes
or so, wielding truncheons.

Robocops threw the protestors into the police cars, where they were
taken to Istanbul Police Headquarters on Vatan Street in Aksaray. More
than 100 protestors were arrested by the police -- pushed, pulled,
slapped and sprayed with an eye irritant -- despite the fact that the
protest was being carried out before the eyes of television cameras
and journalists.

The Saturday Mothers' protest is now in its 172nd week. The aim of the
women and their supporters is to obtain information about the
unexplained disappearance of relatives and loved ones, often while in
police custody. The sit-down protest has been relatively calm;
however, for the last three weeks the police have been intervening and
taking people into custody on the grounds that the protests were
illegal.


-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan!
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