Horrifying image of 'woman in red' being doused with pepper spray becomes symbol of Turkish protests

Photograph of woman turning from the pepper spray has become defining image of Turkey's days of violent protest

Women feel threatened by official promotion of the Islamic headscarf and concerns about women's rights



Many have joined in the street fighting raging in Turkey since Friday

British student Melisa Kenber said she was sprayed in the face for filming police during protests



Deputy Prime Minister apologised for police brutality as Ankara appeared to soften its stance against protestors



Bulent Arinc due to meet protest organisers today in bid diffuse tensions after days of heated demonstrations



Large trade union due to stage walkout today as protest movement gathers support



Turkish police arrest 25 people for 'spreading untrue information' on Twitter and provoking protest




In her red cotton summer dress and necklace, white bag slung over her shoulder, she might have been floating across the lawn at a garden party.

But behind her crouches a masked policeman firing noxious tear gas spray that sends her curly hair billowing upwards.

Endlessly shared on social media and recreated as artwork on posters and stickers, the image of the woman in red has become the leitmotif for female protesters during days of violent anti-government riots in Istanbul.

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Iconic: The woman in red turns as the policeman showers her in pepper spray at close range

This is what democracy looks like: This combination of photos shows how the unknown woman first faces off with the massed ranks of riot police before one steps forward to spray the gas right into her face

Standing up for her rights: The brave woman is forced to retreat coughing and spluttering as the gas-wielding riot policeman goes on to spray the crowds of demonstrators behind her, leaving them in agony

It has thrust Turkish academic Ceyda Sungar into the limelight but she says her experience is typical of people in her country who fight for their rights.



Ms Sungar, an academic in city planning at Istanbul Technical University, told Turkish newspaper Radikal: 'Every citizen defending their urban rights, every worker defending their human rights, and every student defending university rights has witnessed the police violence I experience.'

The academic, who part of the Taksim Solidarity Platform protesting against the redevelopment of the park, has since declined further interviews as she is believed to be uncomfortable with her position as the focal point of the movement.



But it has become a galvanising force for feloow protestors.



'That photo encapsulates the essence of this protest,' says maths student Esra at Besiktas, near the Bosphorus strait - one of the many centres of this week's protests.

'The violence of the police against peaceful protesters, people just trying to protect themselves and what they value.'

In one artist's rendering which has been plastered on walls in Istanbul and elsewhere the woman appears much bigger than the policeman.

'The more you spray the bigger we get', reads the slogan next to it.

Tear gas: Policemen, protected by gas masks, walk through a dense cloud of the noxious substance as they charge protestors

Under fire: Police shoots tear gas at demonstrators near Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office

Conflict: A protestor tries to prevent his friend from reaching a police water cannon during the clashes Angry scenes: Turkish riot police detain a protester during a rally. More than 2,300 people have been injured and one person killed during four days of fierce clashes Tensions: Hundreds of protestors clash with Turkish riot policemen on the way to Taksim Square in Istanbul Dangerous: A demonstrator goes to throw a bottle as fireworks go off behind him and illuminate he street where other protestors have gathered Divided: A masked man tries to avoid a missile, left, while another protestor is led away by riot police



The U.S. and the European Union as well as human rights groups have expressed concern about the heavy-handed action of Turkish police against protesters.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan branded the protesters on Monday extremists 'living arm in arm with terrorism', a description that seems to sit ill with the image of the woman in red.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has apologised for police violence and was due to meet organisers of the demonstration against plans to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks on Istanbul's Gezi Park in Taksim Square.

British student Melisa Kenber said she was sprayed with tear gas as she tried to film the demonstrations

But he refuses to talk to unnamed groups he accuses of exploiting anger over police action against the original protest to foment broader violence.

He is in control of the government after Prime Minister Erdogan flew off to a state visit to north Africa on Monday.



Erdogan did not comment on domestic matters at a news conference in Algiers on Tuesday.

Arinc apologised for 'excessive violence' by police against the initial Taksim demonstration, which contrasted sharply with Erdogan's dismissal of the protesters as 'looters' and comments linking some to 'terrorism'.

President Abdullah Gul has also made markedly more restrained comments on the protests.

Pro-government newspapers signalled a softening of Ankara's line today and the Sabeh newspaper's front-page read 'Olive Branch'.



Today thousands of people remained at a makeshift camp at Taksim, which has become a focal point of the demonstrations.



Small tents have appeared, food and face masks are on sale and a library is being created.



British student Melisa Kenber, 19, said she was chased by police wielding tear gas canisters after she filmed the protests.



The Leeds University student from Ripon, North Yorkshire, was visiting family in Istanbul when she became caught up in the protests.



As she started to video the police they yelled, 'No pictures, no pictures,' and ran after her until she reached her car, her eyes streaming from the gas.

Miss Kenber said: 'I go to Istanbul every year but this time I went, before it all kicked off, I had never hear people so frustrated and angry and complain about the government.

'It was like a bomb waiting to go off. The final straw was at Taksim Square.

'There were thousands of people there, listening to bands and talking, it was a really nice atmosphere.

'But just before dawn police arrived with canisters of gas and water bombs.'



Police have arrested 25 people for 'spreading untrue information' on social media and provoking protests.



Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu Agency said today the people were detained in the city of Izmir for allegedly 'inciting the people to enmity and hate.' It said police were still looking for 13 others.



The day after: Women pass damaged windows in Kizilay Square in Ankara, Turkey, the morning after mass protests in the city

Damage: Windows were smashed during the violent clashes between police and anti-government protestors

Tens of thousands of Turks have joined anti-government protests expressing discontent with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 10-year rule.



Turkey's main broadcast media have been criticized for shunning the coverage of police brutality at the protest onset on Friday. Many people turned to social media to keep up to date with the developments.



Erdogan, who has dismissed the protests as demonstrations organized by an extremist fringe, has referred to the social media as "'he worst menace to society.'



Clashes spread overnight to the eastern province of Tunceli, where police fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of protesters who set up barricades and threw stones at them, witnesses said.

Police intervened in a similar way against demonstrators in the capital, Ankara, as well in Hatay province on the Syrian border where a 22-year-old man died after being hit in the head at a rally late on Monday.

The DISK union confederation, including unions in the metalworking, health and energy sectors, was due to stage a walkout on Wednesday, joining another labour confederation in a protest against the government.



Last night, some protestors dressed in more combative gear and sporting face masks as they threw stones, but the large number of very young women in Besiktas and on Taksim Square where the protests began on Friday evening is notable.

Unafraid: A protestor takes a rest during ongoing demonstrations against the government and alleged police brutality

Take cover: A protester ducks down as fireworks explode during continuing anti-government demonstrations that have overwhelmed Turkey

Whose streets? Protesters wear scarves over their faces as demonstrations against the government, police brutality and the destruction of a city park for a development project continue in Istanbul

Carnival atmosphere: The glow of red flares illuminates the scene as protesters stand outside in Istanbul tonight. The brutal response of police has raised concerns from the U.S., the EU and human rights groups

Fervent secularism: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Monday branded the protesters, who have fought street battles with since Friday, extremists 'living arm in arm with terrorism' On the march: The streets near Taksim Square in Istanbul are filled with tear gas as riot police, dressed in helmets and carrying shield, run towards protesters Running for safety: Protestors flee from police as they are sprayed with water cannon during the demonstrations

With swimming goggles and flimsy surgical masks against the teargas, light tasselled scarves hanging around their necks, Esra, Hasine and Secil stand apprehensively in the Besiktas district on Monday evening.

They are joined by ever growing numbers of youngsters as dusk falls and the mood grows more sombre.

They belong, as perhaps does the woman in red, to the ranks of young, articulate women who believe they have something to lose in Erdogan's Turkey.

They feel threatened by his promotion of the Islamic headscarf, symbol of female piety.

Many of the women point to new abortion laws as a sign that Erdogan, who has advised Turkish women to each have three children, wants to roll back women's rights and push them into traditional, pious roles.

'I respect women who wear the headscarf, that is their right, but I also want my rights to be protected,' says Esra. 'I'm not a leftist or an anti-capitalist. I want to be a business woman and live in a free Turkey.'

Barricade: Men wearing masks and the Turkish flag sift through bricks and rubble as they set a barricage against police

Confrontation: One man crouches in front of hastily set up barricade and hundreds of masked protestors look on

Coming to a street near you soon: Riot police use water cannons to disperse anti-government protesters in Istanbul. UK police have procured several such weapons to deal with expected protests in London

Street fighting: Crowds of protesters equipped with builders' hard hats and other protective gear battle police

Civil disorder: Tear gas and water fill the air as police attempt to clear protesters on a fifth day of rioting

Retreat and regroup: Demonstrators flee the high-pressure spray of a water cannon in an Istanbul street

A taste of their own medicine: A man hurls a tear gas canister back at police lines during protests in Istanbul

Daring: A brave protester walks towards police lines during a stand-off between demonstrators and police

Erdogan, who has won three successive elections and has a huge parliamentary majority, has been accused of taking an authoritarian turn after initial economic advances and early democratic reform.



Leader: Erdogan, a pious man who denies Islamist ambitions for Turkey, rejects any suggestion he wants to cajole anyone into religious observance

Critics accuse him of pursuing an 'Islamist' agenda by easing restrictions on the wearing of headscarves in state institutions, limiting alcohol sales and promoting broader religious projects.



Erdogan denies any ambition to undermine Turkey's secular constitution.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the secular republic formed in 1923 on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, encouraged women to wear Western clothes rather than headscarves and promoted the image of the professional woman.

Ironically, Erdogan is seen these days as, for better or worse, the most dominant Turkish leader since Ataturk.

After first sweeping to power in in 2002, he remains unrivalled in popularity, drawing on strong support in the conservative Anatolian heartland.

The weekend demonstrations in dozens of cities suggest however his popularity may be dwindling, at least among middle classes who swung behind him in the early years of political and economic reform that cut back the power of the army and introduced some rights amendments.

'Erdogan says 50 percent of the people voted for him. I'm here to show I belong to the other 50 percent, the half of the population whose feelings he showed no respect for, the ones he is trying to crush,' says chemistry student Hasine.

'I want to have a future here in Turkey, a career, a freedom to live my life. But all these are under threat. I want Erdogan to understand,' she adds.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden last night said only Turks can solve the problem of anti-government protests sowing unrest in Turkey. But he says the U.S. is concerned and isn't indifferent to the outcome.



Ready for action: A gas mask-clad protester carries a dustbin lid as a shield during clashes with police near Prime Minister Erdogan's office, between Taksim and Besiktas, in the early hours of Tuesday morning

Manning the barricades: Many young Turks are worried about the introduction of new, apparently Islamic-inspired laws brought in by Erdogan, who has strong support in the conservative Anatolian heartland

A man holds a flag bearing the image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded modern, secular Turkey on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 and encouraged the country to throw off its religious traditions

Speaking at at the American-Turkish Council's annual conference, which was attended by one of Turkey's deputy prime ministers, Mr Biden said the U.S. supports free assembly, a free press and non-violence by government and demonstrators.



He added that Turkey mustn't choose between democracy and economic progress.



He also said the U.S. and Turkey sometimes disagree on tactics but share common goals, like a two-state solution in Israel, a non-nuclear Iran and a nonsectarian Syria.

Protesters are coming better prepared now than when the unrest first began.

Some have hard-hats, some are dressed all in black, most wear running shoes. But many are dressed as femininely as the girl in the red dress snapped on Taksim Square.

'Of course I'm nervous and I know I could be in danger here,' said 23 year-old economics student Busra, who says her parents support her protest.

'But for me that is nothing compared to the danger of losing the Turkish Republic, its freedoms and spirit.'

Drenched: A group of young women are hit with a high-pressure spray from a water cannon during demonstrations in Ankara yesterday. The crackdown has left two dead and more than 1,000 injured

Come prepared: Three women shout slogans against the government in Ankara. Around their necks they wear masks to put on in the event that police respond to their demonstration by firing tear gas canisters