Police drone shot down by gendarmerie in Taksim Square on New Year's Eve

A drone belonging to the police forces was shot down by the gendarmerie on New Year's Eve in Istanbul's famed Taksim Square. Gendarmerie officials said that they were not informed about the police flying a drone in the area and therefore assessed the aerial vehicle as a "threat."

Duvar English

The Turkish gendarmerie shot down a drone of the police forces as it was flying over Istanbul's famous Taksim Square on New Year's Eve on Dec. 31, 2019.

For the first time this year, a drone was utilized for the surveillance of the public square on New Year's Eve, which is one of the main places where people flock to for celebrations.

Unaware that the police were flying a drone over the area, the gendarmerie shot down the aerial vehicle, assessing it as a “threat.”

As every year, Taksim Square was also this year the focus of heavy security measures, with numbers of police and gendarmerie forces having been deployed to the area.

The gendarmerie usually serves as a security force in rural areas, but sometimes they collaborate with the police in areas that need additional security.