Turquía - Bomb attack on peace march by unions and CSOs

Around 100 people were killed and hundreds injured in two suicide bomb attacks on a rally called by trade unions and civil society organisations in Ankara on 10 October 2015.

A “Work, Peace and Democracy” rally and mass meeting had been organised by four organisations, DISK (Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions), KESK (Confederation of Public Employees), TMMOB (Union of Turkish Cambers of Engineers and Architects) and TTB (Union of Doctors of Turkey).

Two explosions, apparently from suicide bombers, took place in quick succession, as marchers sang and danced and held banners demanding an end to the violence between the Kurdish separatist PKK militants and the Turkish government. The protestors were also calling for the rights of the unemployed and the poor to be respected.

In the aftermath of the bombings, as the survivors rushed to the injured, the security forces blocked access to medical services for the victims, and used teargas to disperse the peaceful demonstration.

The authorities were equally heavy handed in dealing with a planned demonstration three days later to protest at the mass killing. KESK, DISK, TTB and TMMOB wanted to hold a march on 13 October to protest against the bombing and commemorate the victims of the massacre. Permission was refused however because the route went through “places citizens use frequently,” and because of “the sensibility of the current period.”

Police reportedly attacked people trying to reach the planned demonstration routes, and initially refused to allow people to board the Kadıköy-Eminönü ferry between the Asian and European side of the city on the morning of 13 October, on the grounds that the march was illegal. Plainclothes policemen were filmed violently pushing ferry users to the ground in an attempt to detain them. Elsewhere riot police and water cannon were used to deter people from joining the protest.

Protests against the massacre were also held in cities across the country. Police used teargas to attack a group of around 30 lawyers and another 150 people who came to support them in front of the courthouse in the Alanya district of Antalya.

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