Rioting Spills Into Second Day in Restive Istanbul District

Rioting continued into a second day in Istanbul’s Gazi district on Sunday, July 26, following the death of a suspected member of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party (DHKP-C) during an anti-terror raid on Friday.

The massive anti-terror crackdown following the suspected Islamic State bombing in Suruc earlier this week has sparked widespread unrest over targeting dissidents from all backgrounds.

In Gazi alone, a stronghold of the DHKP-C with a history of political activism, hundreds were arrested.

According to Diha News, police blocked the funeral march for the killed activist Günay Özarslan on Sunday leading to renewed clashes. Images showing protesters hurling rocks and petrol bombs, and setting up street barricades in Gazi, were widely shared on social media. Turkey’s Today’s Zaman reported that one policeman died after he was shot by an unknown assailant. Credit: Twitter/gentledeniz