The Anti Pharma-Fascism Protests Is The Largest Protest Movement In All Human History

The Tiananmen Square 'Massacre' - Facts, Fiction and Propaganda

Chris Kanthan
Sott.net

"As far as can be determined from the available evidence, NO ONE DIED that night in Tiananmen Square."

If after reading that you're thinking: 'nonsense! that's just a blatant propagandist claim by China's communist party!', you'd be wrong. It was, in fact, Jay Mathews, the Washington Post's Beijing Bureau Chief in 1989. He wrote this article on the topic of the June 4th 1989 Tiananmen square protests for Columbia Journalism Review.

Many western papers have, in fact, occasionally admitted that this report and other similar reports exist, only to go back to the "massacre" narrative, for some unknown reason. For example, in June 13, 1989, NY Times reporter Nicholas Kristoff - who was in Beijing at the time - wrote: "State television has even shown film of students marching peacefully away from the [Tiananmen] square shortly after dawn as proof that they [protesters] were not slaughtered." In that article, he also debunked a sensational article's claim that Chinese soldiers with machine guns simply mowed down peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square.

A Wikileaks cable from July 1989 also reveals the eyewitness accounts of a Latin American diplomat and his wife: "They were able to enter and leave the [Tiananmen] square several times and were not harassed by troops. Remaining with students ... until the final withdrawal, the diplomat said there were no mass shootings in the square or the monument."

It is true, of course, that about 200-300 people died in clashes in various parts of Beijing around June 4th 1989 - but about half of those who died were soldiers and police officers.

But what about the iconic "tank man"? Well, if you watch the whole video, you can see that the tanks stopped and let the man jump on the tank. He eventually walks away unharmed. In fact, there are almost no pictures or videos of soldiers actually shooting at or killing people (which doesn't mean it didn't happen, but it's a point to keep in mind).

Propaganda involves not only exaggeration, but also omission. Western media now rarely show pictures of tanks and military vehicles burned down or Chinese soldiers brutally killed by the Beijing protesters.

In an article from June 5, 1989, the Wall Street Journal described some of this violence: "Dozens of soldiers were pulled from trucks, severely beaten and left for dead. At an intersection west of the square, the body of a young soldier, who had been beaten to death, was stripped naked and hung from the side of a bus."

So what exactly did happen? What's the complete story?
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Soldiers to 'OPEN FIRE' if lives are threatened at Yellow Vest protest

dailymail.co.uk

 

French soldiers will be permitted to 'open fire' if lives are threatened by Yellow Vest rioters this weekend, the military governor of Paris said today. 

General Bruno Leray's ominous words highlight the growing law and order crisis faced by President Emmanuel Macron as he faces up to the increasingly violent social movement.

It has now been confirmed that the French Army will support some 5,000 police trying to keep order during the 19th Yellow Vest Saturday demonstration in a row in Paris at the weekend.

General Leray told Franceinfo Radio on Friday: 'If their life or that of the people they defend is threatened, they can go up to opening fire.'

There was widespread rioting across the French capital last Saturday, with banks, high-end shops, and restaurants looted and burnt out.

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Thousands of Russians protest against internet restrictions

Reuters

 

Lawmakers last month backed tighter internet controls contained in legislation they say is necessary to prevent foreign meddling in Russia’s affairs. But some Russian media likened it to an online “iron curtain” and critics say it can be used to stifle dissent.

People gathered in a cordoned off Prospekt Sakharova street in Moscow, made speeches on a stage and chanted slogans such as “hands off the internet” and “no to isolation, stop breaking the Russian internet”.

The rally gathered around 15,300 people, according to White Counter, an NGO that counts participants at rallies. Moscow police put the numbers at 6,500.

“If we do nothing it will get worse. The authorities will keep following their own way and the point of no return will be passed”, said 28-year-old protester Dmitry, who declined to give his full name.

Opposition activists said on Twitter that police had detained 15 people at the Moscow rally, confiscating their banners and balloons. Police have not announced any detentions.

The protests in Moscow, the southern city of Voronezh and Khabarovsk in the far east had all been officially authorized. A handful of activists in St. Petersburg took to the streets without the authorities’ consent.

Russia has in recent years attempted to curb internet freedoms by blocking access to certain websites and messaging services such as Telegram. 

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The Vultures of Caracas

Craig Murray
craigmurray.org.uk

We are frequently told that people in Venezuela have no food, clothing or toilet paper, and that popular discontent with the left wing government is driven by real hunger. There are elements of truth in this story, though the causes of economic dislocation are far more complex than the media would have us believe.

But I ask you to look at this photo of supporters of CIA poster-boy, the West’s puppet unelected “President” Juan Guaido, taken at a Guaido rally in Caracas two days ago and published yesterday in security services house journal The Guardian. Please take a really close look at the photo. Blow it up as big as you can. Scan individual people in the crowd, one by one.

 

These are not the poor and most certainly not the starving. As it chances I have a great deal of life experience working amongst seriously deprived, hungry and despairing people. I know the gaunt face of want and the desperate glance of need. Look at these Guaido supporters, one by one by one.

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The Yellow Vest movement spreading, now going global

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge

The Yellow Vest anti-government movement started in France on November 17, when over 300,000 people across France protested a carbon tax on fuel that French President Emmanuel Macron touted as evidence of France's leadership when it comes to mitigating climate change.
The Yellow Vest protests quickly evolved into a general anti-government movement - with hundreds of thousands of angry French citizens taking to the streets for ten straight weeks of mostly peaceful protests marked with pockets of violence, looting and mayhem.

What's more - the movement has gone worldwide - with perhaps the most notable protests outside France taking place in Belgium, where Brussels riot cops have dealt with week after week of protesters blocking oil depot and throwing hard objects at them.  

On December 8, Belgians attempted to breach a riot barricade while calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Charles Michel, resulting in around 100 arrests.

And while most of the protests outside of France happened last month, this is a good list to note where discontent is mounting.

• Bulgaria: Yellow Vests began protesting the same weekend as the French movement - coming out in force on November 16 to protest in front of parliament and demand the resignation of the government.
• Canada: Yellow Vest protests have taken place in more than a dozen cities across Canada - largely campaigning against the carbon price, Canada's participation in the UN's Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the Trudeau administration and other issues.
• Croatia: Croatians came out in force on December 15, gathering in Ban Jelacic Square. 

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Yellow Vests go global as protest movements around the globe adopt it

TRT World

 

The yellow vest movement has spread to several countries around the world who are protesting similar issues.

 

France

French Yellow Vests turned out in small numbers for the sixth Saturday of nationwide demonstrations, with one person killed in a road accident, the tenth to die since the protests began last month.

Since their peak on November 17 when 282,000 demonstrators came out in force, the turnout has fallen to around 166,000 on November 24, 136,000 on the first and eighth of December and 66,000 on December 15.

About 23,800 people were demonstrating on Saturday, including fewer than 1,000 in Paris. 

Even though the protests are slowly dwindling its symbolism became a global phenomenon.

Belgium

Belgium was the first country to which the protests spread with protestors coming out against high tax rates and food prices.

Belgium has the highest tax revenue globally, just after France.

Some members of the movement began working to form a party for the federal and regional elections in May 2019, under the name Mouvement citoyen belge (The Belgian Citizen Movement).

Demonstrators gathered mostly in the capital of Brussels, at the end of November and beginning of December. 

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Coincidence? Strasbourg Christmas market shooter on run, city bans public demos, France on highest threat level (UPDATE)

"Isn't it odd that right after Macron gives some crumbs to the Yellow Vest's demands, a "terrorist attack" happens; in the home of the European Parliament, no less. Never waste a perfect opportunity to remind the people 'why they need us' (and centering the attack in the home of the EU Parliament should be a good signal to the rest of the EU who are thinking about joining the protests, for good measure)."

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Sott.net / The Guardian

France has upgraded its security threat level as hundreds of police hunted a gunman who shot three people dead and injured 12 others in a terror attack on Strasbourg's celebrated Christmas market on Tuesday evening.

Six hours after the gunman disappeared after firing at passers-by in the busy city centre, the interior minister, Christophe Castaner, said the government had raised the risk level to the highest category.

The move would strengthen border controls and bolster protection of Christmas markets and other events.

In a statement, Castaner said the gunman had opened fire in three different places in the city before engaging in firefights with patrolling soldiers.

"He fought twice with our security forces," Castaner said.

French media reported the man, who was injured in one of the exchanges, then jumped in a taxi and disappeared.


Comment: He fled in a taxi??

Police immediately cut off major roads in and out of the city and launched a massive operation involving 350 police gendarmes and soldiers, as well as helicopters, to find him. French security services said they had identified the gunman as a 29-year-old born in Strasbourg, known to police and also on the "Fiche S" list of potential security threats.

French media reported that gendarmes had attempted to arrest the man for a separate crime at his home in the Neudorf district of south-east Strasbourg earlier on Tuesday. The suspect was not home, but officers reportedly found grenades in his apartment.

Shortly before 8pm local time, the man, armed with an automatic rifle, walked over one of the city's many bridges around the Grand Île toward the Christmas market, which attracts millions of visitors every year. Witnesses said the man fired a first volley of rounds and then walked down the street before opening fire again.

Local resident Yoann Bazard said he heard "two or three shots" and screams; and when he went to his window he saw people running. "After that I closed the shutters. Then I heard more shots, closer this time. There were two or three episodes like that ... As it got close, it was really shocking. There were a lot of screams."

Freelance journalist Camille Belsoeur said he was at a friend's apartment in the city centre and at first mistook the gunfire for firecrackers. "We opened the window. I saw a soldier firing shots, about 12 to 15 shots," he said.

He said other soldiers yelled for people to stay indoors and shouted "Go home! Go home!" to those outside.

One of the dead was said to be a Thai tourist who was shot in the head outside a restaurant. Staff and diners tried to save him but were unsuccessful. Six of the injured were reported to be in a critical condition.

The anti-terrorist section of the Paris prosecutor's office declared the incident to be an act of terrorism and announced an inquiry had been opened into "murder and attempted murder in relation to a criminal enterprise".

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, immediately held a crisis meeting at the interior ministry in Paris.

The gunman reportedly shot at soldiers patrolling as part of the nationwide Operation Sentinelle, the French military operation introduced in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in and around Paris in January 2015, and was injured when they fired back.

Comment: So a known criminal with grenades in his apartment evaded arrest and was on the loose earlier in the day before the shooting, with police apparently actively looking for him before the attack. Were the Operation Sentinel soldiers aware of this? 

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What do the protesters in France want? Check out the 'official' Yellow Vest manifesto

Sott.net

The following list of demands has been circulating among French social media users in recent days. We do not know its exact origins or author(s), but it seems to have first appeared here on December 5th. You'll have to click on the image to enlarge it if you want to read it in French. We've translated it into English (in summary, not word-for-word) below...  

 

Gilets Jaunes' List of Demands  

Economy/Work

• A constitutional cap on taxes - at 25%
• Increase of 40% in the basic pension and social welfare
• Increase hiring in public sector to re-establish public services
• Massive construction projects to house 5 million homeless, and severe penalties for mayors/prefectures that leave people on the streets
• Break up the 'too-big-to-fail' banks, re-separate regular banking from investment banking
• Cancel debts accrued through usurious rates of interest

Politics

• Constitutional amendments to protect the people's interests, including binding referenda
• The barring of lobby groups and vested interests from political decision-making
• Frexit: Leave the EU to regain our economic, monetary and political sovereignty (In other words, respect the 2005 referendum result, when France voted against the EU Constitution Treaty, which was then renamed the Lisbon Treaty, and the French people ignored)
• Clampdown on tax evasion by the ultra-rich
• The immediate cessation of privatization, and the re-nationalization of public goods like motorways, airports, rail, etc
• Remove all ideology from the ministry of education, ending all destructive education techniques
• Quadruple the budget for law and order and put time-limits on judicial procedures. Make access to the justice system available for all
• Break up media monopolies and end their interference in politics. Make media accessible to citizens and guarantee a plurality of opinions. End editorial propaganda
• Guarantee citizens' liberty by including in the constitution a complete prohibition on state interference in their decisions concerning education, health and family matters

Health/Environment

• No more 'planned obsolescence' - Mandate guarantee from producers that their products will last 10 years, and that spare parts will be available during that period
• Ban plastic bottles and other polluting packaging
• Weaken the influence of big pharma on health in general and hospitals in particular
• Ban on GMO crops, carcinogenic pesticides, endocrine disruptors and monocrops
• Reindustrialize France (thereby reducing imports and thus pollution)

Foreign Affairs

• End France's participation in foreign wars of aggression, and exit from NATO
• Cease pillaging and interfering - politically and militarily - in 'Francafrique', which keeps Africa poor. Immediately repatriate all French soldiers. Establish relations with African states on an equal peer-to-peer basis
• Prevent migratory flows that cannot be accommodated or integrated, given the profound civilizational crisis we are experiencing
• Scrupulously respect international law and the treaties we have signed

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‘Deliberate war crime’: Palestinians decry murder of 21yo female paramedic at Gaza border

RT

The killing of a 21-year-old female medical worker during the Great March of Return at the Gaza border is nothing short of a war crime, Palestinian officials said, calling on the international community to hold Israel responsible.

The murder of 21-year-old medical volunteer, Razan Al-Najar, is a direct violation of all “international treaties and conventions” that ensure the protection of the medical staff in the conflict zones, Palestinian Minister of Health, Jawad Awwad, said late Friday, noting that the shooting of the paramedic must have been “deliberate” and amounted to a “war crime.”

The volunteer was shot in the chest by the Israeli Defense Forces on Friday near the border fence east of Khan Younes, in the southern Gaza Strip, while she was helping wounded Palestinians.

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While the Israeli military has yet to comment on Najar's death, an anonymous witness told Reuters that, at the time of the tragedy, the medical worker wore a white uniform, which clearly distinguished her from the rest of the Palestinian crowd taking part in the 10th weekly Great March of Return protests.

Furthermore, the medical volunteer “raised her hands high in a clear way, but Israeli soldiers fired and she was hit in the chest,” the witness told Reuters.

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Thousands of Albanian protesters demand resignation of PM Rama over alleged links to organized crime and trafficking

Frank Sellers
The Duran

 Thousands of protesters marched in the streets earlier to day demanding the resignation of Albania's Prime Minister, Edi Rama, over alleged links to organized crime.

Albania is a NATO member and is presently looking forward to upcoming talks on its next phase of European integration. The protests come about a month before talks are set to resume on that topic.

This isn't the first time Rama has fielded mass protests which seek his removal, last year saw multiple such events take place.

Additionally, Albania isn't alone in facing public wrath and demands for a new government, as some of its neighbors have also experienced the same, also on corruption and links to crime organizations.

Such allegations are feared as a possible roadblock in negotiations with the EU as Albania seeks membership.

Deutsche Welle reports:

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Tirana, demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama step down from his post. Protesters accuse the government of having ties to organized crime and trafficking groups.

Angry protesters in the Albanian capital Tirana marched along the city's Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard on Saturday chanting "Rama go." Some hurled stones at the premier's office building and the interior ministry.

"Albanians are protesting against the government's ties to organized crime and trafficking, which is undermining the future of Albania and now European integration efforts," Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha told The Associated Press.

Basha said that "hundreds of thousands" of people participated in the anti-government march, which lasted for two hours.

There were reports of clashes between police and protesters. Ardi Veliu, the national police chief, said 11 officers were wounded while trying to keep protesters away from government offices.

The opposition also accuses Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj of supporting his brother who turned himself in to Italian authorities to serve a 2002 drug trafficking sentence. Xhafaj denies these allegations.

"No politicians should be guaranteed impunity," Basha told the rally participants on Saturday.

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U.S. Media Whitewashes Gaza Massacre

Jo Lauria
Consortium News

As Israel killed more than 50 Palestinians in cold blood protesting the American embassy move on Monday, U.S. corporate media failed to accurately report what happened in Gaza, once again meekly protecting the government line, argues Joe Lauria. 

Typical of the mindset of corporate media reporting on what happened in Gaza on Monday as Israeli soldiers killed more than 50 protesting Palestinians, is this tweet from CNN. It says: “Death toll rises to at least 52 people during clashes along the border fence between Israel and Gaza, Palestinian officials say. More than 2,400 people have been injured.” CNN’s new slogan is “#FactsFirst.”

Adam Johnson, who writes for the media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, responded to CNN with a tweet of his own:

“This one’s got it all:

• ‘death toll rises’ — no one was killed and no one specific party did the killing, the death toll just mysteriously ‘rises’

• ‘clashes’ — launders all power asymmetry

• ‘2,400 people have been injured’ — all 2,400 are Palestinian but lets go with ‘people’.”                                  

Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, said on his blog that he did a Google News search for the word “massacre” and found not one reference to Gaza.  
A New York Times headline on Monday said: “Dozens of Palestinians have died in protests as the U.S. prepares to open its Jerusalem Embassy.” Journalist Glenn Greenwald responded: “Most western media outlets have become quite skilled – through years of practice – at writing headlines and describing Israeli massacres using the passive tense so as to hide the culprit. But the all-time champion has long been, and remains, the New York Times. #HaveDied.”

[Perhaps because of pressure from Greenwald and others, the Times on Monday night changed its headline to “Israel Kills Dozens at Gaza Border as U.S. Embassy Opens in Jerusalem.”]

Yet another CNN headline simply read: “Dozens die in Gaza.” Journalist Max Blumenthal responded: “Maybe they were old. Perhaps they were very sick. They just up and died! Who will solve the mystery behind these deaths?”

Blumenthal later offered a possible solution to the mystery: “According to the White House, Khhamas launched 41 protesters into unsuspecting Israeli bullets.”

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5,000 feminists go on topless 'SlutWalk' in Tel Aviv in spirit of #MeToo

Comment: This is femininity in the 21st Century? Not for most people. And it seems Palestinians suffering under occupation is not as important.

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RT

SlutWalk demonstrators in Israel have taken to the streets to demand freedom from sexual harassment and shaming based on dress and behavior, and also for a justice system that better serves the needs of harassment victims.

"The word 'slut' is not just degrading to women, but it is also used by society and the system to justify rape," said Bracha Barad of the Kulan group, which organized Saturday's SlutWalk through central Tel Aviv, explaining the provocative name and outfits of the participants. "There is no connection whatsoever between sex and sexual violence and there is no connection between the victim's clothing or her sexual past and the attack she has undergone.

The mostly female crowd, estimated at between 2,000 and 5,000 by Israeli media outlets, brandished posters of public figures implicated in sexual assault allegations, such as ex-president Moshe Katsav, and chanted slogans like "No means no", "Silence doesn't mean consent", "Not your toy" and "Polite women don't make history."

The movement began in 2011, after a Toronto police official urged women not to "dress like sluts" in order to lessen the risk of sexual assaults, which many interpreted as victim-blaming, before resolving to reclaim the word 'slut' by making it a centerpiece of their protest.

Since then, dozens of similar walks have taken place all over the world, but the movement has been reinvigorated by the #MeToo scandal, which has once again brought focus not only on stories of abuse, but also how they were subsequently dealt with by those in power.  

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See also: Why I am Uneasy About the #MeToo Movement

#MeToo 'Trivializes And Blurs' Rape With Flirtation – Academic

Thousands of Italians, Spaniards Protest Against NATO War Games in Europe

Sputnik

Thousands of citizens took to the streets in Spain and Italy in protest of NATO’s destabilization policies in which their countries are involved, Contra Magazin wrote.

Activists demonstrated against the NATO’s "2015 Trident Juncture" military exercise in particular.

In the Italian city of Naples, the protesters carried signs demanding the dissolution of NATO. In the Spanish capital of Madrid, NATO opponents marched carrying anti-war posters and shouting "No to NATO, bases out", "imperialism is terrorism" and "Yankees go home".

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Up to 30,000 Fill the Streets of Tel Aviv in Anti-Netanyahu Rally

Liberty Blitzkrieg

Only a few days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from his much publicized United States trip, during which he was celebrated and drooled over by America’s top warmongers, a large protest against him erupted in the nation’s section largest city, Tel Aviv.
 
Just like any other country, Israel is dealing with plenty of very important domestics issues, and people are publicly questioning whether Netanyahu’s obsession with militancy, and his shameless political stunt in from of the U.S. Congress just weeks before elections back home, make his leadership questionable. Indeed, considering the remarkable lack of judgement evidenced by him back in 2002 (see: Benjamin Netanyahu in 2002 – “If You Take Out Saddam, I Guarantee, It Will Have Enormous Positive Reverberations on the Region”), one should wonder why anyone listens to him at all.

It appears “Bibi” is far more popular with crazy American neocons than he is with his own fellow citizens. From Haaretz:


A rally seeking change in Israel’s leadership attracted tens of thousands to Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on Saturday night. 

According to the “Israel Wants Change” event’s organizers, more than 35 thousand people attended. Other officials estimate between 25,000-30,000 protesters turned out to the rally.

Keynote speaker, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, told the crowd that Israel faces its worst crisis ever under Netanyahu’s leadership.

“No one denies that Iran’s nuclear program is a threat, but going to war with the U.S. is not the way to stop it,” Dagan said.

“Benjamin Netanyahu has served as prime minister for six years straight,” Dagan noted, “six years in which he has not led a single genuine process of change to the face of the region or the creation of a better future. On his watch, Israel conducted the longest [military] campaign since the War of Independence.” Posing a question to the prime minister directly, Dagan added:

“We deserve leadership that will set new priorities. It has long not been a question of left wing and right wing. It’s a question of a path, a vision, a different horizon.” 

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Chris Hedges, Gaza Rally in NYC: God's Covenant in the Promised Land

45,000 gather in London to protest Israeli action in Gaza

Independent 

Tens of thousands of people amassed outside the Israeli embassy in London today to protest against Israel’s incursion into Gaza which has killed 985 Palestinians, including at least 192 children. 

Chanting messages of solidarity to the Palestinian people, a constant flow of supporters filed through High Street Kensington underground station from early in the day.

Around 45,000 people joined the march, according to figures released by the Metropolitan Police.

The protesters are now marching to Parliament. Last week a similar demonstration followed a route from outside Downing Street to the Israeli embassy, attracting around 20,000.

Today’s protest comes as Israel and Hamas are observing a twelve hour cease fire.

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‘End the siege!’ Thousands in Oslo & London protest Israeli offensive in Gaza

RT

Thousands have turned out in London and Oslo to call for an end to Israeli strikes in Gaza. The event organizers say Palestinians are facing “a horrific escalation of racism and violence” at the hands of the IDF.

Israel steps up military offensive in Gaza LIVE UPDATES
The British capital saw the largest turnout with thousands of protesters rallying outside the Israeli Embassy on Friday. Demonstrators flooded the streets around the building waving placards that read “Gaza: End the Siege" and "Freedom for Palestine."

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Sao Paulo police tear gas protesters

BBC News

Brazilian riot police have used tear gas against protesters in Sao Paulo, three days before the World Cup opening game in the city's main stadium.

The BBC's Katy Watson at the scene says about 300 demonstrators are there and helicopters are circling overhead. 

The protest was called by Sao Paulo metro workers who are striking in support of a 12.2% salary increase.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said she would not allow violent demonstrations to mar the World Cup.

Sao Paulo metro workers have been on strike since Thursday, creating traffic chaos in one of the world's most congested cities.

On Sunday, union members voted to continue to strike indefinitely despite a court order for them to return to work and a threat of dismissal by the state governor.

If the strike runs on until Thursday, it could affect the opening match between hosts Brazil and Croatia.

Arena Corinthians stadium is on the outskirts of Sao Paulo and access to the venue without public transport could be a huge challenge for fans.

Turkey coal mine explosion: Protester attacked by adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ‘was relative of dead miner’

Comment: Charming people we have in power at the moment...

But they are merely an individual representation of what the US, Israel and European governments do everyday to their own people. So, nothing really new here except the overt nature of the thuggery.

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The Independent 

A shocking image has emerged appearing to show the moment the Turkish Prime Minister's adviser kicked a protester being restrained on the ground during anti-government demonstrations following an explosion in a coal mine that left 282 dead and scores injured. 

Breaking news feed Report Turk told The Independent the picture was taken in Soma, the town where the mine collapsed after the explosion on Tuesday.

It said witnesses at the scene claimed the person being restrained by parliamentary police in the image was in fact a relative of one of the dead miners, although this has not been confirmed.

The photo caused outrage after it was shared across social media thousands of times and Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet, Milliyet and others on Thursday printed photographs they said were of an Erdogan aide kicking a protester.

Mr Erdogan’s advisor Yusuf Yerkel confirmed in a telephone conversation that he was the man in the image seen about to kick a protester and said he would release a statement on the incident “as soon as possible”, the Hurriyet Daily News has reported. 

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