The colors of the rainbow in the heart of Istanbul. The colorful stairs, symbol of the Gezi Park protest, were destroyed by the municipal administration, which however promised to rebuild them. But what is happening in the Findikli neighborhood? And why were the rainbow stairs demolished?
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
I colors of the rainbow in the heart of Istanbul! . The colorful stairs, symbol of the Gezi Park protest, were destroyed by the municipal administration, which however promised to rebuild them. But what is happening in the Findikli neighborhood? And why the rainbow stairs have they been demolished?
In 2013, a 64-year-old former forest engineer, Huseyin Cetinel had started a veritable urban warfare. Arming herself with colors she had painted the rainbow on an old and dilapidated staircase near his house.
A gesture that triggered a wave of anti-government protests. Within a few days, more rainbow staircases had risen in many corners of the city to protest against Erdogan's government. A real symbol which, for this reason, was initially canceled by the municipal administration.
But all this was not enough and the protests of the citizens, also through the social networks, prompted the municipality to repaint the ramp of the Findikli neighborhood just two days after its destruction.
Since then, until today, the color staircase remained there, admired and photographed. But something prompted the municipal authorities to remove it.
The reason? The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet explains that the demolition was necessary to carry out the renovation of the gas and electricity infrastructures and for the interventions on the water network and the purification infrastructures, which will be completely renovated.
The municipality promises that after the end of the works the stairs will be rebuilt and repainted.
But meanwhile the bulldozers arrived on Tuesday. They went into action and destroyed the rainbow stairs. Many protests on social networks.
Colorful stairs of #Gezi to be demolished in #Istanbul 's Karaköy neighborhood http://t.co/zpPoslLZnp pic.twitter.com/pgwC8obSqY
- Hürriyet Daily News (@HDNER) July 27, 2015
Here's what they looked like prima of the demolition and how they are now:
The “father” of the initiative, Huseyin Cetinel, also intervened on the matter, according to whom talks had been underway for a year to be able to convince the Municipality to bring the rainbow stairs back to life after the works. The promise that they will return "more beautiful than ever" has been torn.
Was destroying them really the only alternative?
Francesca Mancuso
Photo: Twitter
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