An RT crew has been caught up in a tear gas attack while reporting on a mass protest rally in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. Police used force against angry crowds, who took to the streets to protest high-level corruption in PM Erdogan’s government.
Clashes started at around 17:30 GMT on Friday, with police using tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd, RT’s Sara Firth reported from the site.
“It’s very symbolic of the anger we’ve seen that has been building over the last couple of days,” she said. “Bits of rock and marble are everywhere you look,” with protesters throwing them at law enforcement officers.
“We had tear gas going on. Some of the protesters literally barricaded themselves in from the police to protect themselves from tear gas,” Firth said.
Some of the protesters responded by shooting fireworks at police.
According to posts on Twitter, police followed protesters into side streets and fired rubber bullets, prompting them to respond with empty glasses. A reporter for Turkey’s liberal Radikal newspaper “was shot by a rubber bullet,” but despite being hurt “bravely keeps on reporting” from Taksim Square.
RT crew caught up in tear gas in Istanbul as police crack down on anti-govt protest — RT News.