Istanbul protests

On Saturday I went over to Taksim Square to join in with the protests. I arrived around 6pm and just before I got there the protesters had managed to run the police out of the Square. I was astounded by how many people were there, I cannot estimate the number but it was thousands and thousands, the streets were literally heaving with people. The sense of unity amongst the protesters was overwhelming.

The square stayed peaceful and the police were not able to enter again. The streets were littered with the remains of police cars and vans as trophies of the success of the people against the police. This may have been the case in Taksim square but not in Beskitas, where the police used heavy handed tactics and gassed the protesters and used water canons.

Below is a selection of some of the images that I took on the day.