Thousands of people meet near the town hall of Istanbul in support of the recently arrested mayor of the city.
Thousands of demonstrators joined a march in Istanbul to support the city mayor, defying a warning from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the authorities would suppress the “terror of the street”.
The demonstrators went down to the street of the Turkiye shopping center on Friday for the third consecutive day to show their support for Ekrem Imamoglu – Erdogan’s main political rival – which was arrested on Wednesday, a few days before he was to announce his presidential race in 2028.
OZGUR OZEL OZGUR, said more than 300,000 people had joined demonstrations across Istanbul.
“We are 300,000 people,” said the chief of the CHP to the vast crowd in front of the town hall, saying that the demonstrators had gathered in several places through the largest city in the country due to the road and the bridges of bridges preventing people from being in the same place.
The mayor was arrested early Wednesday for alleged ties of corruption and “terror”. Dozens of other eminent personalities, including journalists and businessmen, have also been detained. After detention, the government announced a four -day ban on political demonstrations.
The arrests occurred one day after a University of Istanbul invalidated the Imamoglu diploma, in fact disqualifying it of the presidential race, because having a university diploma is required to present itself for the highest office in the country under the Turkish Constitution.
Imamoglu said he would dispute the decision of the University of Istanbul.
Erdogan said on Friday that the government would not tolerate the street demonstrations and accused the Party of the People’s Republican Party of Imamoglu (CHP) of links with corruption and “terrorism” organizations.
“An anti -corruption operation in Istanbul is used as an excuse to stir up disorders in our streets. I want it to be known that we do not allow a handful of opportunists to provide Turkiye unrest just to protect their looting patterns,” said Erdogan.
Government criticisms considered the arrest of Imamoglu as an attempt to withdraw a key challenger from Erdogan from the next national election in Turkiye.
Government representatives rejected the accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insisted that the Turkiye courts operate independently.
Istanbul reports, Aksel Zaimovic of Al Jazeera, said that there were “many university students” during the demonstration outside the building of the municipality of Istanbul.
“They say they protest against the arrest of Imamoglu as well as the decision of the University of Istanbul to revoke the Imamoglu diploma,” he said.
Zaimovic also noted that the demonstrators had told him “this movement is intended to send a message on” systemic injustice “in Turkish society rather than supporting a single political party”.
“Many say that their right to elect an individual to represent them is challenged by these latest developments,” he added.
The demonstrations against the arrest of Imamoglu began in Istanbul on Wednesday and quickly spread to 32 of the 81 provinces of Turkiye, according to an AFP press agency.
The CHP, the main opposition party of Turkiye, who intended to make his candidate for imamoglu his presidential candidate, described his arrest as a “coup d’etat”.
“Don’t be silent! Otherwise, they will come for you,” shouted the demonstrators. Many have held up in the air with slogans such as “not being afraid, people are here” and “law, justice”.
Since the demonstrations broke out, at least 88 demonstrators have been arrested, the Turkish media reported, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 16 police officers had been injured.
Police also owned 54 other people for online publication authorities considered “incentive to hatred,” he said.
Imamoglu was elected mayor of the largest city in Turkiye in March 2019 in a historic blow to Erdogan and the party of the President of Justice and Development, which had checked Istanbul for a quarter of a century.
