Today the uprisings witnessed a new development, when Turkey's Confederation of Public Workers Unions, KESK, consisting of 11 unions and approximately 240,000 members, declared their decision to stage a massive two-day strike.
The action, which was originally planned for a later date in response to labor law modifications, was rescheduled to June 4 now, in response to the government's excessive use of police brutality and its increasingly undemocratic practices.
Istanbul's state of unrest began May 27 when bulldozers began to uproot trees in Taksim Gezi Park, situated in a historic downtown neighborhood in the heart of the city.
The government's plans to build a shopping center on the grounds of the park sparked outrage among the people, who immediately began to set up overnight tents and to plant trees in response to the demolition of one of Istanbul's few remaining green spaces.
So began what has been described as a war scene over the last few days.
But this protest has expanded into a resistance movement far beyond the modest protection of parks and trees.
LAWYER, ISTANBUL: I can say that we face a despot, disrespectful government that does not care about our ideas. They make a tool of religion and democracy. With these incidences we definitely saw that there is no democracy in this government. The press cannot talk. Whoever talks is put in jail. All our generals are in prison.
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