Protest against bombers

last updated 8 January 2015

Istanbul

Thousands of Turks marched solemnly through the streets of Istanbul to protest last week’s near-simultaneous suicide truck bombings of the British Consulate and a British-owned bank. Thirty people died in the blasts—including the British consul, Roger Short, and a famous Turkish actor, Kerem Yilmazer—and more than 400 were injured. Al Qaida promptly claimed responsibility, and Turkish police arrested more than a dozen al Qaida–linked militants. All over the city, Turks hung flags out their windows, in an expression of national solidarity reminiscent of the scene in the U.S. after 9/11. But the demonstration wasn’t only against terrorism. Many of the demonstrators also condemned the U.S. and Britain over the war in Iraq, with chants of “No terrorism, no imperialism” and “Yes to peace, no to war.”