people are expressing their anger and frustration at the government s increasingly authoritarian rule they say at the imposition of various legislation that they say is because of the government s conservative islamic values. bearing in mind that turkey defines itself as a secular nation, one that since modern day creation, has really prided itself on the fact that it is utterly separates politics and religion. and many of prime minister erdogan s opponents say since he has come to power that is really no longer been the case. it s fascinating to hear, to watch, but also a bit nerve-racking as we have been watching you all day, arwa, so, please take the utmost care. you and your crew. ensure that you are safe. we have plenty of camera angles we can cover this from. we appreciate the hard and taxing work that you have been doing throughout the day. arwa damon is live in istanbul,
it has evolved into something different. the prime minister of this country has the said that he will have none of this. he is using an iron fist, at least with the rhetoric he has been employing in trying to quell what is happening in his streets. to say this is not turkey. this is not the way we want our international image. i will not stand for this protest in our streets. not being met well. when you send in the riot police in this kind of demonstration with 10,000 people there is bound to be death and injuries. and there have been. upwards of 5,000 injuries so far in the past days and weeks of the protest. today, however, it is an entire different scene that we re seeing play out in turkey. you are seeing istanbul, a center square, but it has been difficult throughout the country. you often hear it characterized as a cultural battle. those who support the president. those who support conservatism. and those who want some kind of change. if you have ever been to turkey, it is ver
i am seeing what looks like police firing tear gas in the general direction down the road near gezi park. and much of that wafting into gezi park as well. the wind here a real issue. if it s against you, everything blows into your face, making it irrelevant whether the police have fired tear gas at you or not. of course, life must be difficult inside gezi park now, you are seeing from the pictures, arwa has been showing. but that bid to push protesters, it seems, down the road that runs to the right, the far side of where we are standing of gezi park. as you head down there last night there were buses blocking the way. as you move down towards some of the brand hotels there. that are in this upscale part of istanbul. it must be a for those facing the police advance, in many ways, a terrifying situation. i think we are just sort of lucky to have a change of wind during this hour where you have been able to report without a
arwa was reporting, hard to make out what she was saying under the gas mask. the police and riot crews advanced on barriers. hard to make it out from the pictures we are showing. there was an advance to push down the protesters barriers. clearly the escalation at arwa damon s and crew s location. it happens in a flash. it can be dangerous. sometimes protesters have one protest in mind. others can have something different. trouble. big trouble. we have seen that happen with a cbs crew before. we have seen some of our reporters injured. assaulted. clearly a big concern for arwa damon. i don t know if she is able to hear me any longer or if we have any of our reporting staff, or clearance that they re okay. if we can get our producing staff in istanbul some clearance that arwa and her staff are all right. we want to make sure that is okay. here is the other issue. these are protesters many of them have spent days trying to get a message out. usually about the green space. usually abo
much construction, like the plan to remove the trees, the very remaining green space in the center of istanbul where protesters are, and then replace it with a mall or museum. a very ostentatious plan the administration had to resculpt the center of the city here. that is a cost which many traditionalists here in turkey, secular middle-class, intellectuals were appalled by. they wanted to see the old istanbul they knew, their old way of life retained. and they ve been concerned that the type of conservatism breached by prime minister erdogan, and he has 50% of the population voting for him. he was really angered angered them, and that often became part of what we saw in these protest as long with them being fueled by police tactics. nick, americans look at this, they wonder, who are the good guys here? who are the bad guys here? so often we want to tend to side with protesters thinking they re rising up against an oppressive