Tyranny in Sur: Municipal police cut water hoses

[Anthea]

Tyranny in Sur: Municipal police cut water hoses

Municipal police entered Alipaşa and Lalebey neighborhoods in Sur where the demolition continues and cut the hoses the families use to carry water to their homes, threatening the people with “If you give them water you will burn.”

Lalebey and Alipaşa neighborhoods of Sur have been without water and power for 20 days. The power and water lines have been cut with the start of the demolition and the residents are having a tough time, still struggling to save their homes from demolition.

According to newspaper Şujin, the municipality offers no health or cleaning services to the people in either neighborhood and has been reported to have sent municipal police units yesterday. The municipal police entered the neighborhoods for inspection and warned schools, mosques and coffee shops that lent water to the residents. The municipal police cut water hoses set up by the residents’ own means and said, “No water for them. If you give them water, you will burn. If we see you giving them water again, we will do the same to you.”

The neighborhood is without water or power for the last 20 days. Women carry water to their homes in jerry cans, while small children have to get by on one shower a week in the scorching summer heat. Now that the hoses are cut, women and children have to carry water from a far away mosque in Melikahmet.

Women say, “They put us through Karbala in Ramadan. We said we won’t leave our homes, and we went through hell for it. But we still won’t leave. Nobody hears our voice. Somebody should bring in a tanker of water to the neighborhood and stand with us.”