Turkish bloggers and journalists expressed outrage on social networks Thursday at images of a female television reporter who was knocked down by a direct blast of red liquid fired from a police water cannon during a protest in the capital, Anakara.
According to an Istanbul blogger who writes as Merlinka, the reporter, Hüsna Sari, said later that the officers appeared to aim the high-pressure hose directly at her even though she had made it clear that she was a journalist and showed the officers that she was holding a microphone. She was later hospitalized with back pain.
The blogger also shared a wire-service photograph, which showed the vehicle the liquid was fired from, and argued that it was proof that the reporter had been targeted.
Her channel, Ulusal TV, reported Thursday evening that images of Ms. Sari being knocked to the ground had been shared thousands of times on social networks, and given rise to the tag #DirenHüsnaSarı â€" combining her name with the Turkish word “diren,†or “resist,†which is used by protesters in much the same way as the word “occupy†is in the United States.
The images were also remixed by one Turkish blogger to comment on Turkey’s recent crackdown on press freedom, which includes proposed restrictions on the use of the Internet.
Video of the incident posted online by the Turkish news agency DHA appeared to show that Ms. Sari was hit by two different streams, one clear and one red-tinged, suggesting that pepper spray might have been added to the water.
As the Turkish sociologist Zeynep Tufekci explained, the authorities confirmed last year that they do add pepper spray to the liquid fired from water cannons, as protesters doused in the red liquid had suspected from the itching, burning sensation that ensued.
The deep red color of the liquid fired at protesters to block a march to the country’s Parliament on Thursday was clearly visible in other images taken during the dispersal.
Photographs of protesters apparently suffering from the effects of the noxious liquid were also posted online by Turkish news sites.
For Ms. Tufekci, the image of the female journalist being knocked down reminded her of photographs from last year’s Gezi Park protests, of a female protester pepper-sprayed from close range by an officer.
Those images of the assault on Ceyda Sungur, who became known as Turkey’s “lady in red,†epitomized for many Turks the excessive use of force by their police, in much the same way as images of Egyptian soldiers stomping on the chest of a female protester stripped down to her blue bra did for many in Egypt in late 2011, during the period of direct military rule.
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