Leicester Supports Protestors in Turkey

Leicester solidarity with protests in Turkey!

On Saturday Leicester Socialist Party members joined forces with local people protesting against the violent actions of Turkish police and the refusal of Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, to listen to the demonstrators. We are now proud to call ourselves “capulcular”, a word originally used by Erdogan, with the literal meaning of “rioter” or “riffraff”, but which has since been adopted by the movement as a positive description of anyone willing to stand up against the Turkish regime.

We had planned a protest in support of the people in Turkey at the clocktower in Leicester on Saturday after our usual stall but on arrival we found a group of demonstrators already there. We explained that we were there to support them, were given a warm welcome and got out our banners, leaflets and papers. It was a lively protest with chanting and speeches but the highlight of the day was when men and women linked hands for a traditional Anatolian dance accompanied by music played over the megaphone! We had good discussions with passers-by, sold 21 papers and collected donations towards Sosyalist Alternatif in Turkey. The point was made that all the different groups must unite to fight against the government’s policies, which only serve to improve the lives of Turkish bosses and not those of ordinary people.