A group of journalists who were subject to police violence during Gezi protests have filed a criminal complaint against police.

Speaking at a press conference before presenting the criminal complaint to Çağlayan Courthouse, Turkish Journalists' Union (TGS) Istanbul Branch Chairperson Gökhan Durmuş said that at least 28 press workers were wounded by police while covering the Gezi protests in Istanbul under severe conditions. Durmuş pointed out that some journalists were deliberately targeted and wounded by police for covering the protests. According to Durmuş, police also assaulted and insulted 22 press workers and took 14 others into custody.

Durmuş reminded that two journalists, one for daily Atılım and the other for Özgür Radyo, were detained as a result of police raids in the houses of the journalists early in the morning. Durmuş said police also seized the archives of Güneş Ajans, the agency in charge of the technical works of Etkin news agency and the daily Atılım. He remarked that two woman journalists, who were in the office during the police raid, were also detained for 14 hours and subjected to naked body search as the raid took place.

Durmuş said that the figures concerning the journalists subjected to police violence were compiled from the determinations of the Turkish Journalists' Union (TGS). He commented the figures as a consequence of the disgraceful situation in the country which -he said- was caused by the government and its police forces. Durmuş commented the assaults on journalists as an attack targeting people's freedom of information and the freedom of the press and expression.

Durmuş demanded that all government officials responsible for the violence, the governor and the security director of Istanbul in particular, be relieved of duty and brought to trial.

Durmuş said the injury of at least 28 journalists was a concrete indication of the fact that press workers are being forced to work under conditions lacking occupational safety. He called on all press workers to fight against repression and to be organized under the roof of Turkish Journalists' Union.

Speaking after, Michael Backmund of German Journalists' Union said that “We have watched the resistance in recent days with both concern and excitement. We watched in great dismay how the Turkish state violated the international conventions it is a party to, and how journalists, doctors and lawyers were subject to violence during protests. What Turkey has practiced in this process goes against international conventions according to which the people practicing these professions have to be guaranteed with safety. We witnessed in person that the violations were practiced on the basis of a structural systematic order”.