News Monday 31 May 2010
Istanbul rally: Israel will drown in blood Around 10,000 Turks marched in protest from the Israeli consulate in Istanbul to a main square, chanting, "Murderous Israel you will drown in the blood you shed!" following the deadly IDF raid on the Gaza aid flotilla Sunday night. The protesters earlier tried to storm the Consulate building but were blocked by police.

The Gaza aid flotilla of six ships, carrying some 700 activists, was sponsored in part by a Turkish organization.

Turkish police were put on high alert as thousands people marched on Istanbul's central Taksim square from the Israeli consulate where they had converged after news of the raid broke.

"Damn Israel!", "A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, revenge, revenge!" chanted the protestors, carrying Turkish and Palestinian flags, as they marched towards the square, an AFP photographer reported. "Close down the Zionist embassy," read a banner carried by the crowd.

Burning Israeli flags (Photo: AFP)

A crowd of some 500 people gathered outside Israeli ambassador Gabby Levy's residence in Ankara, shouting "Damn Israel" and reciting prayers. Levy was summoned to the foreign ministry.

Israel issued a travel advisory for Turkey warning citizens from traveling there and advising Israelis who are currently in Turkey to remain in their lodgings and avoid crowded areas.

President Abdullah Gul said Turkey was demanding that Israel "swiftly carry out all necessary inquiries on the issue and punish those responsible."

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