January 13, 2007 The protest against the inhumane isolation conditions prevalent in the notorious Turkish prisons was staged, as scheduled for every Saturday in the busiest place in Istanbul, the Taksim Square. Today, the demonstration attracted more than 500 people from trade unions, mass democratic organizations, trade associations and ordinary people. The famous popular artist […]
January 13, 2007
The protest against the inhumane isolation conditions prevalent in the notorious Turkish prisons was staged, as scheduled for every Saturday in the busiest place in Istanbul, the Taksim Square. Today, the demonstration attracted more than 500 people from trade unions, mass democratic organizations, trade associations and ordinary people.
The famous popular artist Bilgesu Eranus read a press release followed by a prison folk song sung by the entire participating crowd. Interrupted frequently by chants of, “Stop the Isolation, Stop the Deaths,” the crowd was also addressed by the mother of the attorney Behiç Aşçı, who is on a hunger strike to death protesting the isolation treatment in the prisons.
As the crowd was getting ready to end the demonstration, the police tried a provocation as it has done in most of the meetings before. Reacting to the song the participants were singing, the police interrupted the song and the meeting with megaphones ordering the crowd to disperse, causing a tension. The organizing committee intervened to the police provocation and prevented their disruption of a perfectly orderly demonstration.
View the demonstration, the prison song sung by the
Participants against the isolation treatment in Turkish prisons.
