March 25, 2006 Five people were arrested in the neighborhood of Derbent in İstanbul in the skirmish between the neighborhood people resisting the demolition of their homes. The police in armored vehicles attacked the resisters with tear gas bombs, injured many and arrested five. Three of the five arrested are members of People’s Cultural Centers. […]
March 25, 2006
Five people were arrested in the neighborhood of Derbent in İstanbul in the skirmish between the neighborhood people resisting the demolition of their homes.
The police in armored vehicles attacked the resisters with tear gas bombs, injured many and arrested five.
Three of the five arrested are members of People’s Cultural Centers. The Center asked, in a press statement they issued, the release of the arrested and pledged their continuing support for the resistance.
A press conference was planned for the next day to protest the police attack and demolition of the houses and to correct the press for falsely calling them squatters. However, when the people got on the buses to go to the meeting place, the police prevented the buses from leaving. The people held the press conference in their neighborhood instead of Galatasaray as planned.
The cause of the resistance was the decision to hand over the land where the people lived to Ülker Company. The people expressed their anger in the signs they carried: “Derbent Can’t Be a Free Gift to Ülker,” “We built Derbent, We Won’t Have It Demolished”, “We Are the People Not Terrorists”. They also protested the pro-capital media for misinforming the public by calling them terrorists and squatters. They called on the reporters “to report the truth and not to sacrifice us to your lies”.
The statement said, “Our homes were raided and our people were severely beaten. It was terror in Derbent. The Minister of Interior and the Sarıyer Chief of Police should resign. We shall not forget what happened to us yesterday and we shall not let it be forgotten.” The statement also refuted the lies that a Health Center would be built in place of the Cultural Center that was wrecked. The rumor began to spread after the demolition of the Center to legitimize the demolition.
EK