FRIDAY

"Four days ago a group of people who did not belong to any specific organization or ideology got together in Istanbul's Gezi Park. Among them there were many of my friends and students. Their reason was simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city. There are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul at least one in every neighborhood! The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thrusday morning. People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their tents down and spent the night under the trees. Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation."

These were the exact words used by blogger Tarinhide Yayimlandi to explain how the riots started in the country. From the descriptions, it was supposedly a peaceful environmental protest - a right freely given to all citizens in any place in the world.

According to blogger Yayimlandi, there was no newspaper; no television channels present to cover the peaceful protest. There was a complete media blackout, but "the police arrived with water cannon vehicles and pepper spray. They chased the crowds out of the park."

The police's big reaction was something surprising that it provoked more and more protesters to come peacefully in the park.

As more protesters came to the park, the government's reaction became bigger: "Local government of Istanbul shut down all the ways leading up to Pakistan square where the Gezi Park is located. The metro was shutdown, ferries were cancelled and roads were blocked."

But this did not stop the number of protesters from multiplying. In fact, they were motivated more by the government's 'unusual' response.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Atyyip Erdogan claimed that the protest has nothing to do with the government's plan of transforming the park into a mall. In an interview with a Turkish television, he said, "It's entirely ideological. The main opposition party which is making resistance calls on every street is provoking these protests. This is about my ruling party, myself and the looming municipal elections in Istanbul and efforts to make the AK party lose votes here."

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), on the other hand, denied that they were the ones behind the protest. Senior Party Member Mehmet Akif Hamzacebi said, "Today the people on the streets across Turkey are not exclusivle from the CHP, but from all ideologies and from all parties."

Blogger blogger Yayimlandi had the answer, "These people are my friends. They are my students, my relatives. They have no hidden agenda as the state like to say. Their agenda is out there. It is very clear. The whole country is being sold to coporations by the government, for the construction of malls, luxury condominiums, freeways, damns and nuclear plants. The government is looking for any excuse to attack Syria against its people's will.

By this time the police had already employed its biggest reaction to the protesters, including throwing directly canisters of tear gas to the crowd. A woman was hit in the head and is now in critical condition. But, "no newspaper or TV channel was there to report the events. They were busy with broadcasting news about Miss Turkey and the strangest cat of the world" - according to blogger Yayimlandi.

A Friday ends, the protesters had new goal...

"They came from all around Istanbul. They came from all different backgrounds, different ideologies, different religions. They all gathered to prevent the demolition of something bigger than the park: The right to live as honorable citizens of this country"

Still, "mainstream media kept showing Miss Turkey and the strangest cat of the world."

SATURDAY

By this day, there were already helicopters firing tear gas canisters into residential neighbourhoods and police used tear gas to try to smoke people out of the buildings.

There was one video in YouTube (now blocked) showing one protester beaten by a police, using an armored police truck.

Amnesty International was never blind to the extreme used of power by the police as it "kept its office open as safe haven for protesters escaping police violence throughout the night."

Reports said that there over 1,000 protesters already injured and there were already two who died.

Blogger Yayimlandi gave specific detail, "Two young people were run over by the tanks and were killed. Another young woman, a friend of mine, was hit in the head by one of the incoming tear gas canisters."

As how Amnesty International described the situation, "The inappropriate use of tear gas by police has been the most devastating on the safety of demonstrators, causing an unknown number of injuries, including serious head injuries when the canisters hit protestors. Hundreds of empty tear gas canisters remain on the ground in areas where demonstrations are taking place."

"Police were seen deliberately targeting individual protestors with tear gas canisters. In some cases, tear gas was fired directly into homes and business that had opened their doors to feeling protestors.... Tear gas was fired close to the entrance of Taksim Emergency Hospital."

SUNDAY

As reported by Reuters, "the atmosphere in Taksim Square was festive, with some people chanting for Erdogan to resign and other dancing. There was little police presence."

Blogger Yayimlandi said that "schools, hospitals and even 5-star hotels around Taksim Square opened their doors to the injured. Doctors filled the classrooms and hotel rooms to provide first aid. Some police officers refused to spray innocent people with tear gas and quit their jobs. Restaurants offered food and water for free."

But, by this time, the government had other plans - blocking twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other social media to prevent information from spreading around the globe.

"Around the square they placed jammers to prevent internet connection and 3G networks were blocked. Residents and businesses in the area provided free wireless network for the people on the streets."

In an interview with BBC, Mr. Erdogan said "Twitter was a curse and an extreme version of lying. I think social media as a whole is a pain in the side of the society."

Heissenstat of Amnesty International has a response to this, "... for all the flaws of social media in disseminating accurate information, the utter failure of most Turkish media to effectively cover the historic events in Turkey is worth recognizing. The Turkish government has failed badly in this regard, particularly in its unwillingness to disclose accurate casualty figures."

Meanwhile, people commenting on blogger Yayimlandi's site shared their experience of being blocked from Facebook and YouTube.

One comment said "facebook don't let me add occupy Gezi's page. It said it does not exist. Strongness for your struggle and ours are the same. Capitalism is international, so do our struggle."

Another comment said, "Facebook and Youtube blocked us. And everything about Turkey. Slowly... FB and YTB supports one ugly MF modern dictator now."

Another comment went, "If you can't access Facebook and Twitter it's because communications companies are blocking it."