Civil disobedience

A court in Eskişehir has acquitted 173 people who were tried for attending last year’s Gezi Park protests, on the grounds that they had used their right to free expression.

A total of 176 people, including two lawyers, were facing up to three years in prison on charges of resisting a public officer, insulting, damaging public property and violating the demonstration law.

Police used stun grenades and tear gas in central Athens on Thursday night to disperse students protesting the decision to close universities in the capital several days ahead of the anniversary of the bloody November 17 uprising against the junta at Athens Polytechnic in 1973.

Ceyda Sungur, a research assistant at Istanbul Technical University who become known across the world as “the woman in red” due to an iconic photograph at the start of last year’s Gezi protests, is facing an internal faculty investigation over an email sent from her university account.

Education Minister Andreas Loverdos (photo) accused SYRIZA on Wednesday of encouraging students to stage sit-ins at dozens of public high schools around Greece to protest education reforms.

Istanbul’s Üsküdar Municipality has decided to halt the construction of a small mosque next to the Validebağ grove, after activists continued to brave inclement weather by camping out on the site to prevent the cutting down of the grove's trees.

The father of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, a young student who died after being fatally beaten by plainclothes police during last year’s Gezi protests in Eskişehir, has put himself to work in the construction of a foundation that will contribute to keeping his son’s memory alive.

Hong Kong democracy activists on Oct. 28 marked one month of mass protests, calling on supporters to gather for an evening rally wearing the masks they have used to ward off police tear gas and pepper spray.
      

Boastful of its environmental policy despite activists’ outcry over gargantuan projects that will lead to massive deforestation around the city, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has announced plans to enter a competition to be chosen as European Green Capital of 2017.

Sausage, the ginger mongrel who became famous for appearing at anti-austerity protests and barking at riot police at the height of Greece's debt crisis, has died of a heart attack

Romanian MP Aurelian Mihai, who has been on a hunger strike for eight days in a protest aimed at curbing consular taxes, was taken from the Parliament by ambulance on Wednesday to Bucharest Emergency University Hospital on his request, immediately after he had given a news conference to explain his protest.