ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's deputy prime minister gave a nod of approval to a new form of peaceful resistance that is spreading through Turkey on Wednesday as police were questioning dozens of people rounded up in police raids.
Although police dispersed pockets of protesters who set up barricades in two Turkish cities overnight, sometimes violent anti-government demonstrations have largely given way to a passive form of resistance, with people standing motionless.
Hundreds of protesters stood still for hours on squares on main streets in several cities, mimicking a lone protester who started the trend on Istanbul's Taksim Square on Monday and has been dubbed the "Standing Man."
In the first direct government comment on the new style of protest, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters that the standing protests are peaceful and "pleasing to the eye." He urged protesters, however, not to obstruct traffic and not to endanger their health.
"This is not an act of violence," Arinc said. "We cannot condemn it."
Police had dispersed hundreds of standing protesters late Monday but are now allowing the protests to continue unhindered.
