Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Wednesday that "standing still" is a peaceful way of protesting because it does not contain violence.
Speaking prior to an executive board meeting of the ruling Justice & Development (AK) Party's in Ankara, Turkish Deputy PM Bulent Arinc urged "standing man" protesters to shorten the length of their protests to avoid harm to their health.
"Eight hours is too long and may harm their health. Let's shorten it to, say, 8 minutes so that we can appreciate it," he said.
Arinc stated, regarding the misinformation campaign on social media and the Internet, "I prepared a regulation on social media and internet portals to take the bloggers in news portals into the scope of the press law. It may take one or one and a half year for it to enter in force."
"Social media is a widespread system in today's world. We cannot exclude ourselves from it. However, the communication and misinformation aiming at solicitation, leading violence and escalating the incidents must be answered by an intimidating sanction. If the current regulation is inadequate, the Ministry of Justice will handle the issue and make the necessary amendments," he added.
Reminding also the latest defamation campaign of the international media on Taksim Gezi Park incidents, targeting the Turkish government, Arinc noted, "We saw how the violence climbed due to the misinformation and biased news broadcasted by BBC, CNN International, Reuters and Russia Today since the onset of the protests. So, I used my legal right and refuted a news story that appeared in BBC. Therefore, we openly stated what we wanted to say and highlighted our tone."
The first silent protest was carried by performance artist Erdem Gunduz, who stood for eight hours at Istanbul's central Taksim Square.
While some of the protesters looked at direction of the Ataturk Cultural Center, others looked in the direction of the Gezi Park on Tuesday.
The "standing still and silent protest" was turned into a campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #duranadam (standing man).
