Has the ‘Turkish Spring’ started?

"... Increasingly violent protests have rocked Istanbul for the fifth day. What began May 27 as a peaceful sit-in against the Turkish government’s plan to replace a small park in the centrally-located Taksim neighborhood with a shopping mall has morphed into resistance against Turkey’s growing authoritarianism, highlighted both by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s curtdismissal of protestor concerns, and an AKP parliamentarian’s wisecrack that some young people “are in need of gas.”Today, the Turkish police attacked protestors violently, injuring not only students but also journalists and even members of parliament. Pictures emerging from the protests have shocked Turks. CNN Istanbul correspondent Ivan Watson tweeted, “Like so many other residents of Istanbul, I got tear gassed on my way to the office. imagine NYC cops gassed Times Square on a daily basis [sic].”