Yesterday a crowd of protesters gathered at Stortorget Lund, following the death of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan in Turkey on tuesday. He had spent the last 269 days in a coma after being struck on the head by a police tear gas canister, during the Gezi protests last June.
The demonstration was organized by students at Lund to show solidarity with the people of Turkey against the police brutality during the Gezi park protests. The protests claimed 8 victims’ lives, including one policeman. “Sam” (26) one of the organisers, said “we are all here in solidarity.” The crowd of about 20 people stood round and a statement was read. The protesters were calling for an impartial and effective investigation of the murder cases during the protests.
Global demonstrations
Parallel demonstrations took place globally and thousands took to the streets in the capital Ankara to mourn Berkin Elvan’s death. At the Lund demonstration protesters were regularly checking their phones to update on the funeral, which also happened yesterday afternoon. Frustration amongst the protesters ran high as they recalled their experiences of the Gezi protest last year
“This is the final stage. 100,000 people have come together across Turkey, yet the Prime Minister ignores them. In the 21st century this is not acceptable” said Gökhan Kaya (31), a student at Lund University, referring to the Gezi protests. According to BBC sources following the death of Berkin Elvan the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has urged everyone to stay calm and for his opponents to “express their opinions peacefully in local elections later this month.” However frustration towards Erdoğan is still mounting.
“Erdoğan polarizes people” said Gökhan Kaya, “yet these polarized groups have ended up coming together. What is happening today is a continuation of Gezi Park.”
Symbolic death
The Gezi Park/Taksim Square demonstrations have been part of the wave of unrest which has occupied squares globally since the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2011. During the Lund demonstration there was talk of the riot police violence and how this is causing a dilemma.
“It is the responsibility of the police to make the citizens feel secure, not threatened” said ”Jane”, who has requested to remain anonymous, a student from Malmo University, “Yet this is happening everywhere, look at Ukraine.” The protesters discussed parallels to young deaths in other ‘democratic’ struggles.
“His death is symbolic,” said Jane. ”I came to commemorate a young person who died. He was not the first young child to die in the name of “politics” and he won’t be the last. I am here to remind people what is going on.”
The death of Berkin Elvan, a young boy who was going to buy bread at the time of his attack, has become symbolic of the death toll of the young people who have lost their lives during protests.
“Sam” said “This is a commemoration for all the children who are murdered in political unrest across the world. The screams of their mothers’ rage will burn dictators!”
“Sam” is really called something else.
