article_snippet.sent: Over the last five years, security forces have arrested hundreds of army generals, journalists, prosecutors, civil society activists and police commanders and accused civil society activists and police commanders of being members of assorted plots aimed at toppling the government.
article_snippet.sent: Websites linked to an extremist leftist militant group known as the DHKP-C began publishing chilling photos of a masked man holding a pistol to the head of a hostage in front of communist flags.
article_snippet.sent: Two gunmen demanded the confessions of police officers accused of shooting a tear gas canister at Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old boy who was critically wounded during anti-government protests that raged across Istanbul in 2013.
article_snippet.sent: The boy's death after months in a medically-induced coma triggered a fresh burst of protests and riots against the government.
article_snippet.sent: Istanbul's police chief had called for a press conference.
article_snippet.sent: As journalists jostled journalists way through security at the entrance to the largely deserted courthouse, some bystanders began chanting "government thieves.
article_snippet.sent: Just hours after a devastating lapse of security at the Palace of Justice, police began detaining the demonstrators hurling abuse at police elected government.
article_snippet.sent: Many of those Arab countries have since descended into conflict, repression and instability.