Anger has spilled into the streets

The attack on the Turkish flag that took place in Mersin during Nehvruz celebrations two weeks ago has raised tensions on the streets. Yesterday in Trabzon, a group passing out illegal leaflets concerning close friends of their who had been arrested resisted the efforts of the police to stop them from doing so. Witnesses who saw the group's resistance to police efforts took up the intervention on their own. When one of the group's female member's red and yellow jacket was interpreted as being a PKK banner, up to 2,000 people began attacking the group.  The events began yesterday afternoon on Trabzon's Kunduracilar Boulevard, when "Bread and Justice" magazine representative Zeynep Erdugrul and friends Nurgul Acar, Emre Batur, and Ihsan Ozdil began passing out leaflets entitled "There is Death in Isolation." The leaflets were in support of the Imprisoned Families Solidarity Organization. The "Bread and Justice" magazine is known to have ideological ties to the now outlaws DHKP-C group.  First Intervention A traffic policemen on duty in the area was the first to try and prevent the group from passing out the leaflets illegally. But when the group resisted the police efforts to get them to stop, people in the area began to beat the group. Then the red and yellow jacket Erdugrul held in her hands was mistaken for being a PKK banner, emotions began to boil over. The group tried to run from the crowds, whose numbers surged suddenly.  Put Into a Workshop For Safety Erdugrul and her friends, chased by the crowds, were cut off by their pursuers in front of the Eba Passageway, where they were once again beaten and kicked by the crowd. Police intervention saved them from a lynching by the crowds, and shut the group of four into a nearby workshop for their own safety.  "Hand Them Over"  When people in the area heard about the incident and started to gather, there were around 2,000 all told in the crowd. Shouting slogans like "Turkey, Turkey," "This is Trabzon, there's no way out," "This is not Mersin," and "We will burn those who burn the flag," the crowd repeated demands to the police to hand the four over. Trabzon Police Chief Ramazan Akyurek, who came to the scene along with special police forces, climbed to the window of a building and tried to calm the crowds over a megaphone.  Exit From the Back With police guarding the back exits to the workshop, a Special Forces Team oversaw the transfer of Erdugrul and her friends from the exit into a special armoured vehicle that had been brought to the scene. Aftter the events were over, Trabzon Police Chief Akyurek made this statement: "Flag burning is not the case here. Let this event not be misinterpreted."  Taken in for Questioning The leaflet distributors were taken in for questioning and were then transferred to the courthouse. Â