Woman in Red (Turkish Police Spray Tear Gas on Modern Young Protester)

(Courtesy Reuters)

This young woman being teargassed at the Taksim protests in Istanbul has become an internet icon.

Unveiled and bare-armed, she is clearly secular and modern. Many but not all of the supporters of Justice and Development Party Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan wear headscarves and dress modestly. But she is also just young, female, and vulnerable, under the blasting chemical attack of an well-equipped, aggressive police officer who is himself representative of a modern and authoritarian institution in Turkey. Having technically and tactically advanced police serving a conservative government is among the paradoxes against which the young protesters are mobilizing. So the photo fills in four blocs of a Greimas square, with regard to the secular values of most of the protesters, thusly:

Modern Dress (Liberty)	Muslim Dress (Authority)
Modern Police Dress (Authority)	Modern unveiled hair disheveled by gas attack (lack of liberty)

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Here is a photo gallery at the Telegraph of women protesters standing up to police