After a night of clashes between protesters and riot police, tensions remain high but the trouble has quietened down for now in Istanbul’s Taksim Square.
The signals are very worrying. Already there were troubling trends in this country: website blocking used frequently and abusively; excessive fines on media outlets; journalists imprisoned.
Thousands of supporters greeted prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan outside an Istanbul airport chanting “let us go, let’s crush Taksim”, as fear spreads that violent clashes are soon to follow.
PM Erdoğan’s inflammatory policies point to the pitfalls of majoritarian style democracy in Turkey.
As police fired tear gas and pointed pressurized water hoses at protesters marching towards Taksim Square in weekend anti-government protests, Syria’s regime was busy spinning Turkey’s predicament in its favour.