Saved by stickers? A first-person account of the Ankara attack

As I began to register the cause of the explosion and the plumes of smoke, I braced for another explosion amid the fleeing crowdThere was a time when one wondered, "Are the police going to fire tear gas?" before heading to a rally.

Evidently, that's so 2013: In the much-heralded "New Turkey" it's better to ask: "Are they going to bomb it?"

While I would not ascribe too much to destiny in the matter, I realize that it was the stickers that saved my life - or at least a visit to the hospital to have an overworked medical professional in a deluged ICU attempt to claw ball bearings out of my stomach. Arriving at Ankara's Train Station around 8 a.m., we were consumed by urgent matters - finding breakfast and a washroom amid the ever-growing number of participants appearing for the Labor, Peace and Democracy Rally. Base necessities satiated, we embarked on the task at hand ahead of the 10 a.m. march to S?hhiye Square - putting up stickers on lampposts to decry the current state of media censorship in the country.

While jumping over banners, running into people or just saying "hi," I made my way toward the station square, affixing stickers to lampposts and road signs. A friend relieved some of my burden, so by the time I got to the area in front of Ankara's train station about 10 minutes before the start of the march, I had - fatefully - run out of stickers.

I returned to my journalists' group, took out my camera phone and waited for something interesting to take a photo of. Our group produced a new set of signs from a black plastic bag and hoisted them up, preparing to march. I deemed it worthy of a photo for posterity and lined up the shot - only to hear a "pat, pat" and glimpse a plume of smoke and paper rising over the square...