Basically, the police dispersed a crowd of no more than 50 people who were staging a small, peaceful protest against the destruction of Gezi Park, which was taking place without the consultation of the people, the municipality, or even the consent of the local government, very violently. When local media screened a penguin documentary instead of the protest, Turks active on social media realized what was happening and got furious.
Basically, fierce crackdown against a small group of non-violent environmentalists + no media coverage + the realization that a mall was being built on top of the park + feeling under-represented = protestor numbers increasing exponentially. Wash, rinse, and repeat. The fiercer the police get, the more people find reasons to go protest.
So that's that. It's definitely not ending anytime soon.
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