Imamoglu, considered by many to be the main political opponent of the government of the 22 -year -old president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was imprisoned on March 23, waiting for trial for corruption accusations.
Thousands of people took to the streets in Türkiye this Saturday to protest against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Ecrem Immamogog. The event was organized by the People’s Republican Party (CHP), the oldest political formation in Türkiye.
Despite the brutal repression of Similar events On the part of the security forces in the previous days, thousands of citizens met in the Maltepe district, on the Asian side of the city, to express their support for Mayor fired of Istanbul. From the first hour of Saturday, the transfers from the Bosphorus rented by the party transported the demonstrators who transported the Turkish flag and the portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of the Turkish nation, to the place of the event.
The possession of ekrem ̇mamoglu is activated A wave of protests In all unprecedented Türkiye in the last decade, with tens of thousands of demonstrators who left the streets every night.
In an interview with the French newspaper “Le Monde”, opposition leader Ozgür Special He announced regular demonstrations “every Saturday in a Turkish city” and every Wednesday evening in Istanbul. “We believe that from now on the arrests will decrease,” said Ozel. The leader of the Kemalist party has therefore declared that he is willing to “risk eight or 10 years in prison, if necessary. If we do not refuse this attempt at a coup, it will be carried out at the polls“.
Brutal repression and mass arrests in Türkiye
Protests in the country are mainly guided by students, but the repression continues with mass arrests of demonstrators, journalists and lawyers. Only in Istanbul, 511 students were arrested on Friday 275 of which were imprisoned, according to the lawyer Ferhat Guzel.
According to the latest official data published on Thursday, At least 2,000 people Were arrested, of which 260 have been imprisoned. The Swedish journalist Joachim Medin, who was arrested on Thursday on the scale of the plane, was put in custody in a prison in Istanbul on Friday evening, according to the editor of newspapers in which he works.
At least a dozen Turkish journalists were arrested during the week. Most have been released, but they continue accused of having participated in prohibited protests They covered the means for those who work, including an AFP photographer, Yasin Akgul, who fears that there will be a “will to prevent journalists from doing their job”.
