Apparently Turkish police have a biting sense of irony: they’ve sprayed protesters at the World Water Forum with high-pressured water cannons.

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The forum, which occurs every three years, is supposed to focus on ways to eliminate water poverty across the globe, but protesters believe the forum takes a heavy-handed approach and supports construction of dangerous and environmentally-disastrous large dams.

Two activists with the non-profit group International Rivers were deported from Turkey earlier this week for doing nothing but stand up with a banner reading “No risky dams.” But while these activists were ticket-holding forum attendees, other protesters gathered outside the forum before it began.

The police said that the water cannons were the most “cost effective” way to respond to these protesters. While of course I do not condone any act of violence against people merely expressing themselves, if the cops were going to do it anyway, this was a wonderful weapon choice.

Tear gas? $7,350.

Water cannons? $235.

Using water cannons against people protesting water poverty? Priceless.

Photo Credit: Isbi Armor on Flickr under Creative Commons license.

