The employees traveled to Ankara on Tuesday aboard 106 buses in order to participate in the protest, demanding that they be transferred to other public institutions. After Tekel’s privatization, the workers were employed according to Article 4/C of Law No. 657, which aims to prevent the victimization of workers; however, the law makes it possible to employ the workers temporarily and eliminates severance pay if the workers are laid off.Gathering in Ankara to protest being employed according to Article 4/C, the Tekel workers announced that they will continue to protest until their demands are met. During the protest, which continued until midnight, while some employees lit a fire to keep themselves warm, others wrapped themselves in blankets. The workers were then taken by police to the Atatürk Sport Hall aboard municipality buses on Tuesday to spend the night there. Riot police from the Ankara Police Department took security precautions around the sports hall and did not allow reporters to enter.
Employees congregated in front of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) headquarters in the morning. A group of 50 workers lit a fire in front of the building to stay warm at about 7 a.m., and tension grew between the workers and police officers when the workers refused to leave the scene. Riot police forced the group to disperse and sent them away. The fire was extinguished by officers.
Later on Wednesday, a group of 1,500 Tekel workers attempted to walk from the Atatürk Sport Hall to AK Party headquarters, but police did not allow them to do so. When the group continued to walk toward the AK Party headquarters despite police warnings, police used tear gas on the protesters, increasing tension between police and protesters.
