Autumn will be ‘extremely’ calm, Istanbul governor says

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu once again blamed 'marginal groups' for being responsible of the violence. DHA photo

Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu has dismissed the suggestions that latent anger from the Gezi protests could explode once more during a “hot autumn,” despite three days of police repression against demonstrations in the city denouncing the death of a protester.
 
Just as during the Gezi protests, Mutlu once again blamed “marginal groups” for being responsible of the violence, particularly during the protests in Kadıköy on Istanbul’s Asian shores.
 
“It is out of the question for our society, whose memory has become extraordinary strong after the incidents in June, to allow the provocations of marginal groups. Nobody should worry as there is an extremely calm autumn ahead of us,” Mutlu told reporters Sept. 13.
 
Mutlu also noted that the police had not intervened against the citizens’ forums in Kadıköy’s Yoğurtçu Park, but said the circumstances during the protests on the three previous nights were different.
 
“We showed the democratic sensitivity to those forums and did not intervene. However, can it be a question of freedom of assembly at midnight? You can’t use your freedom of assembly by setting [the streets] on fire, with Molotov Cocktails or fireworks by disturbing the peace at Kadıköy,” Mutlu said.
 
“Are those who do this residents of Kadıköy? Not at all. This is an effort of marginal groups to start a new movement from Kadıköy.”
 
Riot police used tear gas and water cannons during three nights as protesters denounced Ahmet Atakan’s death. 
 
Atakan was killed during an intervention against a demonstration in the southern province of Hatay on Sept. 10, with conflicting reports over his death that raised the tensions. Witnesses and activists claimed that Atakan was struck in the head by a tear gas canister while police said he had fallen from a building.