Kurdish protesters, MPs and academics brutally attacked by Turkish police

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Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in the city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, and were met with brutality by Turkish police forces earlier today.

The Turkish government constantly extends its support towards Syrian protesters and the Syrian uprising while it brutally cracks down on Kurdish activists. The following images will illustrate that Turkey’s policies towards neighbouring countries and their treatment of protesters is not only hypocritical, but one that highlights barbaric treatment of Kurds. It comes as no surprise to Kurdish people, but it is incomprehensible to see Turkey beat, arrest, intimidate protesters while in the same vein it calls on other countries to respect the rights of protesters.

When reading numerous outlets, you will come across reports like this:

Several hundred protesters in multiple groups spread throughout the city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey threw stones and swung sticks at police, who scattered them with water cannon and teargas, an AFP correspondent said.

These reports often circulate without end, but the truth which is ignored is that protesters were peaceful and stones were thrown in response to police attacking protesters with teargas. The same behaviour of protesters which we have seen in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Unfortunately the media responds differently to those uprisings, and protests. It depicts the protesters in a sympathetic light, while in the cases of Kurdish people it simply marginalises them and categorises them in an unsympathetic light.

These are the pictures from today’s protest that highlight Turkish authorities misusing police powers to control, restrict and intimidate protesters.

This picture was taken by Faruk Arhan (@FarukArhan)

Picture taken by Rasim Aslan (@rasimaslan1)