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Directly to the right of this neat picturesque scene is the police station where the bombing occurred. This image was taken within 25 feet, but two weeks prior, to where the bomb went off! While in my previous post I was excited to share the fun stuff that occurred in Istanbul, on the first day I was there at Taksim while there were several protests from different groups and even some police out in riot gear down by the university.
I had snapped a few pics, but nothing happened while I was there and the scene was peaceful, albeit tense between the police and the protesters. Mainly, it was a scene of curious onlookers with the protesters encircled by the police and a lot of people ignoring it completely. I didn't linger, but I did stop to figure out what the protest was about.
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| Less than lethal weapons and tanks of pepper spray were at hand |
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| I was told that BDR is a Kurdish party |
And finally, I found a (shaky) movie that actually has the police station that was attacked in view. I recorded it during the midday call to prayer for the audio, but caught another protest from a different group. In the the right corner, you can even see the riot control vehicles they have parked there at this busy and popular square.
I am glad that the victims are recovering, and the incident will not keep me from going back to Istanbul or Taksim square. Even though it's unusual for me to have such a link to an attack like this, I still feel that we're all more likely to get hit by a car than become a victim of this, or any other incident.
