Earlier quoted context omitted.
I flew down to Istanbul this weekend to support my friends. Joined in the protests on the front lines - have some photos up: http://travel.ninjito.com/dump/2013-06-01-Istanbul-Protests/...
Great high-quality photos! Two points I want to underline: (i) the protester-driven excavator in photo 23 is a story onto itself (for those who can read Turkish, the full story can be found here: http://eksisozluk.com/poma--556945?a=today ) (ii) note that all the protesters in the mosque (Valide Sultan mosque, in Besiktas) have not forgotten taken off their shoes, as is the custom, even in that furor, thus disproving…
At one point an ambulance needed to go through - I ran in front clearing the way, up to where the digger was parked at the intersection.
Someone from the crowd jumped in to start it to make way for the ambulance, and spurred on by cheers, drove the thing forward, over the barricades, and directly into the water cannon trucks, sending the cops retreating.
After making a solid advance of about 500m or so, he was joined by 2 semi-trailers, before he was gassed out of the cabin. As he came down, I sprayed his eyes, and had a good 10 second pause, contemplating if it was worth driving the digger more. Eventually I decided that it wasn't my place (as a foreigner) to drive it, someone else jumped in and took off, and I hopped in the semi-trailer to help the driver who had been gassed.
Shot some video of the digger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86-r7CVQzF0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZBsdYCOLuY
and from the truck cab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSA79KpOSZI