In a written statement about the brutal police attack Gezi protestors were subjected to in Taksim on Monday, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) headquarters demanded the urgent release of dozens of people who were taken into custody yesterday.

Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu officially opened the Gezi Park to public yesterday after three weeks of closure since 15 June when police forcibly evicted the park, using excessive force against the people in the area. The park was re-closed to public and police started to attack protestors in the park after the governor left the area yesterday afternoon. The violent police intervention in Taksim continued till late night. Many people were injured, including those critically wounded, and dozens of others were taken into custody including leading members of the Taksim Solidarity Platform. The park was re-opened to public at night.

BDP remarked that the government and the governor of Istanbul have once again responded with an unlawful and cruel violence to the public struggle against the plans to leave the Taksim Square and the Gezi Park destitute of identity and people.

Reminding that 35 representatives and executives of the trade bodies, democratic NGOs and political parties that constitute the Taksim Solidarity platform were detained by police yesterday, BDP said that these people did nothing but wanted to enter the Gezi Park to hold a forum as part of the forum tradition that has recently spread across the country as a model of democracy.

BDP warned government officials about the ongoing unlawful and unfair practices protestors are being subjected to for days now, and called on the government to end its policies aimed at leaving the Taksim Square and the Gezi Park destitute of identity and people.

The party also urged the government to determine and punish those who killed and wounded protestors and made them blind, to end the detention operations and to immediately release members of the Taksim Solidarity platform and all those detained for joining protests.