JINHA

ISTANBUL – Police have arrested at least 70 in May Day celebrations as workersattempt to enter Taksim Square, declared a no-go zone and under heavy police blockade.

Two women chanting "long live May 1" in Kurdish and Turkish were among the first to enter the totally blockaded square. They were quickly and violently arrested.The Istanbul Bar Association reports at least 70 arrests as of 11:33 a.m.

Police attacks started early in the morning as workers gathered in two sites in the neighborhoods of Beşiktaş and Şişli, hoping to march to the square several kilometers away. Unions, left political parties and autonomous activists were out in force in both neighborhoods.

KaniBeko of the confederation Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) greeted the crowds in Beşiktaşsquare. Feminists bearing purple flags started chants of "jin, jiyan, azadî" (woman, life, freedom in Kurdish) and "quit housework, let the world stop." The crowd of workers joined in. One of the first arrests at Beşiktaş Square was a young man named BaranHamzaçebi, arrested for having a gas mask and helmet in his bag. He reported that after a CHP MP intervened, he was let go and forced to surrender his gas mask.

In the working class Okmeydanı neighborhood, police opened fire on crowds with rubber bullets. At least five were arrested earlier in the morning in Okmeydanı. Their identities are unknown.

As noon approached, a group from the Communist Partymanaged to enter the empty and blockaded Taksim Square. A group of 50 started out from the Taksim Hill Hotel side of the square, chanting "Taksim is the May Day square." Police surrounded the group, but some managed a banner drop from the Cengaver Hanbuilding before police arrested around 30 of their number.

Taksim has had a symbolic significance for workers since May Day, 1977, when soldiers opened fire and killed workers celebrating the holiday in Istanbul's central Taksim Square.

(ekip/fk/cm)