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Turkey fires tear gas at Istanbul airport workers: report
ISTANBUL, Sept 14, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Turkish security forces on Friday
fired tear gas at construction workers at Istanbul’s new airport who were
protesting dangerous working conditions at the site as it prepares to open
for business next month, local media reported.
The new airport is one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitious new
projects for the sprawling metropolis.
Located on the Black Sea, it will initially have capacity to handle
around 90 million passengers per year, but that number is expected to rise to
150 million by 2023.
To publicise the project, Erdogan’s plane landed there in June just days
before the presidential election.
Nevertheless, there have been reports of a large number of deaths at the
construction site where some 35,000 people are working round-the-clock to
finish it on time for the inauguration at the end of October.
Hundreds of workers have gone on strike to protest working conditions,
the private DHA news agency reported.
A group of them gathered at the site on Friday, but the security forces
dispersed them using tear gas.
There was no immediate reaction from a government official.
BSS/AFP/RY/1825 hrs