Ankara, May Day, 2010

May Day in Ankara was sunny, unlike last year. This year, demonstrations were legal in Taksim Square, and many people from Ankara went there. We didn't go there, and we didn't march from the train station in Ankara either. Four of us (including a guest from Istanbul, in town for mathematical reasons) walked down Atatürk Bulvarı, for once free of cars.

At Sıhhiye, some of the first marchers were entering.

Some of these first marchers were nationalists.

Then came unionists,

then various assorted radicals.

We found the METU students and joined them.

As usual, police searched everybody entering the rallying area.

A sexy advertisement for underwear was the right color for the occasion.

I recognized a crazy guy from last year's march.

I didn't figure out who these children were.

These transvestites and transsexuals got a lot of media attention, apparently for their insistence that only female police search them; I believe the wish was granted.

Some groups pause to allow a gap to form behind the marchers ahead of them; then they run forward.

“Rebellion, revolution, anarchy.”

Afterwards we walked back along the still-car-free boulevard and found the new Cer Modern art museum, a welcome addition to the city, housed in an old railroad maintenance facility.

We walked back home through the May Day rallying area, where municipal workers were cleaning up.