They plan to shop, eat and drink at Turkish shops in a show of support for their Turkish neighbors. “This Saturday we plan to turn out to support the Turkish and Kurdish-owned businesses in and around Dalston. So get up, grab a paper from a corner shop, go to a local cafe, get your hair done at a Turkish barber shop, go to one of our lovely Turkish supermarkets to get your shopping in, eat out at a restaurant or grab a takeaway pide or kebab then have some drinks in a Turkish bar. Come on, Dalston, this is payback time!” a statement on the Facebook page of the campaign titled “Thank Turk It's Saturday” says.
Nearly 4,000 people have already accepted the invitation, and more people are likely to show up for the event.
“On Monday night as the police were over-run, a group of Turkish & Kurdish business owners from Dalston stepped up and chased off the nasty little rioters. They protected their businesses, our streets, our homes and most of all our community. Since then it's been a quiet week on Dalston Kingsland High St.,” the organizer of the event, Nick Horne, wrote on Facebook as he called on Dalston residents to invite their neighbors, family, friends and all people who live in Dalston to join the event.
The Turkish shopkeepers' defense of their neighborhood found wide coverage in the world media. The Wall Street Journal reported that the clashes in Dalston, a ramshackle neighborhood of pawn shops, Turkish social clubs and kebab joints, began when a gang of about 50 youths approached the area from the east, setting fire to a bus and smashing in the windows of a chain restaurant, a bank and an electrical goods shop. “Dozens of local men came out on the street to block their progress. Over the course of the evening, they pushed back the heavily outnumbered troublemakers in three separate surges, driving them away from a cluster of Turkish-owned shops and businesses. Women and elderly men sought refuge in local cafés to watch the clashes from a safe distance," the report says.
