Murat UYSAL
Eylem NAZLIER
Nisa Sude DEMİREL
İstanbul
The May Day of Labour, Solidarity and Struggle of the working class took place under a police blockade in İstanbul. The May Day Organising Committee, which consists of DİSK, KESK, TMMOB, TTB and TDB, called for a march to Taksim Square. But on 1st May, roads and public transport lines leading to Taksim were closed by the İstanbul Governorate.
Three days before May Day, DİSK, KESK, TMMOB, TTB and TDB called for two marches at Saraçhane Square and Beşiktaş Barbaros Square. After the internal meeting of KESK yesterday, it was decided to march together in Saraçhane Square. According to the decision, the members of the trade unions and professional associations should meet at Saraçhane Square and march to Taksim Square and celebrate May Day at Taksim Square.
Following the call to gather in Saraçhane to celebrate May Day in Taksim Square, thousands of people arrived at Saraçhane but hundreds of police set up a barricade under the historic Bozdoğan Aqueduct. Thousands of workers and labourers who left their homes in the early hours of the day to go to Saraçhane Square were met by closed roads and police barricades. In the peninsula, which was almost blockaded, the workers and labourers started to enter Saraçhane Square from the 3 roads that were still open at 09:00 in the morning.
The masses negotiated with the police in order to march to Taksim. Despite the decision of the Constitutional Court, the police did not open the road to Taksim.
The historical aqueduct in Unkapanı leading to Saraçhane was blocked with police and a barricade was set up in front of it. Saraçhane Park and the park on the side of the Fatih Fire Brigade were closed to 1 May participants. The organising committee tried to force the workers, labourers and members of political parties into the 15 July Martyrs' Avenue, which was cut off at both ends by the police. On the instructions of Asalettin Arslanoğlu, the spokesperson of DİSK Istanbul, an attempt was made to direct the mass, but the participants who tried to enter the area from Aksaray had difficulties.
As 10am, some groups started to march in front of the barricade set up in front of the historical aqueduct. In front of the barricade, they chanted slogans such as "Taksim everywhere, resistance everywhere", "Barricades for the bosses, not the workers" and "Long live Mayday". When the DİSK delegation went to the barricade to "meet with the police", it caused excitement among the masses gathered in Saraçhane. After the meeting, which did not last more than a few minutes, DİSK Chair Arzu Çerkezoğlu and the members of the DİSK executive committee quickly returned to the street where the DİSK bus was parked.
The quick return of the DİSK delegation to the bus was not enough to calm down the excitement of the masses who marched to the barricade together with the DİSK delegation. During the Organising Committee meeting, the police intervened with pepper spray and rubber bullets. The crowd tried to break through the barricade, sometimes with slogans, sometimes with songs. DİSK, KESK, TMMOB, TTB and TDB, who had decided to march from Saraçhane to Taksim and squeezed the workers in Saraçhane, were not among those who marhed thtough the barricade.
The Organising Committee finished the meeting. After the meeting, DİSK President Arzu Çerkezoğlu went to the terrace of the bus to make a statement. Arzu Çerkezoğlu spoke while the police intervention in front of the historical aqueduct continued. DİSK, KESK and CHP were in front of the bus. In her short speech, Çerkezoğlu said, "The will here is the will of the working class, labourers and people of Turkey against this unjust order that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. This will is the declaration of the will of the people of Turkey against those who see us as an indigenous people while implementing policies that impoverish us. This square will see this will in every step they take from now on. They will recognise this will".
After Çerkezoğlu's speech, it was announced that "May Day activities are over". Members of the CHP, DİSK and KESK left the area. The crowd reacted to this decision. After the announcement of the organising committee, the police intervention became harder.
206 people were detained during 1 May celebrations in İstanbul.
Bülent Falakaoğlu