Later today, we'll post some eyewitness accounts from a Seattle man who's been living in Istanbul since early 2006.

In advance of that, this seven-minute YouTube video is an excellent primer on how things began and escalated:

And the photos on a Facebook page for Istanbul anarchists are high drama—fires, overturned cars, protesters in abaya (gives a whole new meaning to "black bloc"), a Starbucks that looks like it was bombed, individuals in Tiananmen-style standoffs with armored vehicles...

Some protesters have met with officials and issued a list of demands, including:

...the dismissal of the governors of Istanbul; the capital, Ankara; and the city of Hatay; as well as the head of the security forces in those three cities. The representatives’ list also included the release of detained protesters; an end to the use of tear gas by the police; and the cancellation of the project that started the protests: the construction of an Ottoman era replica that would destroy a park in Taksim Square in Istanbul.

Turkish police have been rounding up Twitter users, accusing them of tweeting "misleading and libelous information."

And there will be a solitary demonstration with the Turkish community in Seattle this Saturday at Victor Steinbrueck Park.