8 powerful Instagram photos from Turkey’s protests

When protesters gathered in Istanbul’s Taskim Square for a sit-in aimed at preventing a park in the district from being redeveloped into a shopping mall, few would have imagined that Turkey was about to break out in nationwide protests.

When police tried to break up the initial sit-in the protesters fought back and were soon joined by others. They eventually took over the square, with other protests taking place around the country. The intent of the original protest was quickly displaced by deep-seated issues around cultural divisions and discontent. Over the weekend more than 100 people were injured as police attempted to disperse crowds using water cannons and tear gas.

As was the case with the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, social media has been an incredibly important (although potentially flawed) means of keeping the world informed about what’s going on. Since those earlier protest movements however, social media has expanded far beyond Facebook and Twitter and platforms like Instagram are starting to make a serious mark.

Image: pterjan (via Flickr).