JINHA

İSTANBUL – Police have completelysurroundedTaksim Square in Istanbul, where the government has forbidden May 1 celebrations. The total police blockade extends to all roads leading into the hilltop neighborhood as far as the neighborhoods of Beşiktaş and Şişli, each several kilometers away.

Police barricades have closed off many roads since last night. Police have also blockaded the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) office in the Tarlabaşı neighborhood, where a number of firetrucks are stationed.

There is a heavy police presence around the Şişli Mosque on one side of Taksim and Beşiktaş Square on the other—both locations where workers plan to assemble to march to the square. The roads leading from both neighborhoods are under complete police blockade. Beşiktaş Square is closed off with three riot control vehicles.

Police have been seeking out journalists on the scene and telling them to leave the square. Journalists have been told that those without the official state-issued press passes issued to select reporters in Turkey "will be treated as demonstrators."

The government outlaws May 1 celebrations in the historic Taksim Square every year. This year, there is a noteworthy presence of plainclothes police alongside the riot police in large numbers.

In addition to Taksim, the working class neighborhood of Okmeydanı, known as a site of frequent May 1 clashes, is also under heavy police occupation. Armored vehicles are stationed at the entrances to streets and busloads of plainclothes police are currently in the area. Public transit in Okmeydanı is completely shut down.

Around 1,500 police have been flown in to Istanbul on private planes from other provinces as far away as Diyarbakır and Kars for the day. Public buses transported police from airports to their stations last night and this morning.

Workers plan to start their march from Beşiktaş Square at 11 a.m. and from Şişli Mosque at 12 p.m.

(ekip/rp/fk/cm)