Violence, Tear Gas Greet Protests to Save One of the Last Public Parks in Istanbul

ISTANBUL — At midnight on Thursday, one of the few remaining parks in the center of this city was filled with people singing, dancing, talking, giving speeches, and preparing to camp out. Before dawn this morning, it was violently cleared by armored police spraying tear gas — a cycle that's repeated itself over the past few days as protesters seek to halt the demolition of the park and the building of a shopping mall there.

Just nine acres in size, Gezi Park would be but a blip on the map in cities such as New York, with its 843-acre Central Park. But in Istanbul, where only 1.5 percent of land area is devoted to public green space — less than in crowded Tokyo or Shanghai, but far behind New York (14 percent) or London (38.4 percent) — it is a rare oasis.