ISTANBUL
Daily life around the Taksim Gezi Park has normalized and the roads were re-opened for vehicles and pedestrians after the intense heavy protests of the last two weeks had ceased.
The Taksim Square opened Monday morning for vehicle and pedestrian traffic and bus stations, billboards, traffic lights and signs as well as traffic cameras damaged during the protests were repaired.
Business owners, who were forced to close their shops during the demonstrations said they were glad to carry on with their businesses now.
"The incidents had a 90 percent effect on us. The protest should stop. The shop owners were bleeding, isn't that a shame? A full recovery will take 2 or 3 months."
Taxi driver Huseyin Akdeniz said that the protests had a negative effect on his business and added, "We couldn't work around Taksim for the past 15 days. The hotels are empty. The streets are damaged, I hope that the protests will end soon."
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality said in a statement it would plant in the next five days 80 fully grown trees at the Gezi Park and 55,000 flowers.
