Check out Turkey's rainbow-colored public walkway, inspiring peaceful protests and smiles

In Istanbul, known as the city of seven hills, dozens of public stairways crisscross centuries-old neighborhoods, giving pedestrians a way to avoid heavy car traffic on the streets.

Those walkways generally attract little notice, but that changed last week, when a retired forestry engineer decided to paint the Findikli stairs in the central district of Beyoglu in all the colors of the rainbow — an act of guerrilla beautification that unintentionally triggered a fresh ripple of anti-government protests.

Almost as soon as the paint was dry, residents of the city were posing for pictures on the uneven and rundown, but newly bright, steps connecting Findikli to Cihangir, a liberal neighborhood frequented by artists.


http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/with-a-burst-of-color-turkeys-public-walkways-become-a-focus-of-quiet-protest/?_r=2