Chaos Reigns at Historic Ergenekon Trial

Yesterday supporters of the Ergenekon gang created disturbances in the courtroom that lead to more chaos outside. Unfortunately, the protesting crowd of supporters was not barred from rallying outside the complex, which proved to be unfortunate for the Turkish Judicial system. // The Turkish Gendarmerie tried to sustain security through announcements but, the first day of the trial was labeled as "chaos in the court". Disorder in the court room is what lead to the upheaval outside the prison complex. The only security teams were gendarmerie traffic patrols outside the prison complex where the hearings were held. Thousands of people who came to attend the historic law case which has been held in Silivri Prison complex, were admitted without security checks. Demonstrators who were hiding iron bars in Turkish flags were able to go in the complex easily. Interestingly, demonstrators who rallied outside the prison building tried to prevent the media from creating chaos during the hearings of some 86 defendants, 46 of whom were under detention in the court room. There were only 20 Gendarmerie officers to guard the thousands of square meter area. The Gendarmerie built barricades between the two opposing groups.

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