Turkish policeman who tear-gassed protester in red dress ordered to plant trees as punishment

ANKARA, Turkey – Media reports say a court has ordered a policeman who was photographed spraying tear gas from close range at a woman wearing a red dress during Turkey’s 2013 anti-government protests to plant 600 trees as punishment.

The protests grew out of anger against government plans to uproot trees at Istanbul’s central Gezi park. The woman in red, captured in the photograph with her hair up in the air from the force of the spray, quickly became one of the protest’s symbols.

Hurriyet Daily News said Thursday that the Istanbul court initially sentenced the policeman to 20 months in prison for exceeding his powers, malpractice and causing injury. It later suspended the sentence and ordered him instead to plant the trees and care for them for six months.

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