Violent Clash Against Peaceful Protesters at World Water Forum

Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet at 3:37 AM on March 17, 2009.

The fifth World Water Forum opened today in Istanbul with a clash between peaceful protesters and the Turkish police.

Here's a dispatch from Mary Ann Manahan of Focus on the Global South, Philipp Terhorst of Transnational Institute, and Martin Pigeon, Corporate Europe Observatory:

At 9:30 this morning, a group of about 300 Turkish and international activists began a peaceful march towards the entrance of the 5th World Water Forum in Beyoglu to express their concerns about the political agenda of the event and prevent people getting inside. Turkish police forces, outnumbering by far protesters, quickly intervened and charged, using rubber bullets, separating Turkish activists from international protesters and violently dispersing the action.

17 Turkish activists from the "No to commercialisation of water platform" were arrested, mostly women who couldn't escape fast enough and one high-profile leader of anti-dam movements. Arrested activists are now in hospital, waiting for their transfer to Vatan police station where they might be prosecuted for illegal protest. The renowned Turkish hospitality seems to not apply to those critical of the World Water Forum.

Other activists then entered the WWF venue to protest against this inacceptable way of treating democratic protests and further challenge the World Water Council and Turkish government's water privatisation plans.

The week-long forum is expected to be contentious, with many groups from all over the world protesting the position of corporations at the decision-making table and plans for increased privatization of water. But the opening of the conference with a police crackdown has activist groups further incensed.

The People's Water Forum, "representatives of a broad international coalition of water rights activists," denounced the repression:

The forum refers to itself as an open and transparent process working for the right to water, but this repression reveals both the exclusive nature of the forum and a clear disregard for human rights.

At this moment, seventeen Turkish activists are in jail, having suffered brutality and abuse at the hands of the police. With respect for the sovereignty of the Turkish nation, we demand their unconditional release.

When questioned, Gerd Berkamp, Director of the World Water Council, refused to denounce the violence.

Just as the World Water Council is unaccountable to the overwhelming majority of people affected by the decisions made within its closed chambers, the arbitrary nature of this police violence demonstrates the brutality of the divide between those with access to social and political power and those without.

We'll continue to cover the forum this week. You can also read about the controversial CEO Water Mandate in this story from Corporate Accountability International.

Tagged as: water, water privatization, world water forum

Tara Lohan is a managing editor at AlterNet.