National protests were reported today in more than 30 cities of Turkey after the death of a seriously wounded young student during protests in June last year.
Elvan Berkin, 15 years old, died today. Elvan was in a coma during 269 days due to a head injury caused by a can of tear gas fired by the riot police in the district of Okmeydan in Istanbul during the protests at Guezi Park on June 16 last year, when he was only going to buy bread. He is the eighth killed for Guezi. This produced a huge explosion of popular anger against the repressive government of Erdogan and the June and July struggle reappears against the “assassin Erdogan” and “killer cops”.
This afternoon, students from many schools and universities in Ankara, Istanbul, Eskisehir and Antalya boycotted classes to protest, only 2 weeks before the municipal elections. They will also boycott classes on Wednesday to attend the funeral of Elvan in Istanbul.
At night, the police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to brutally disperse the assembled protesters in Ankara, the capital, in all districts of Istanbul and other cities.
The RED militants were in the front row, carrying their flags, despite the spontaneity of actions. Tomorrow marches will occur at the time of his burial and the left unions KESK , DISK , TTB and TMMOB are calling mobilizations with an hour stoppages in the workplaces.
