ANKARA: Turkish authorities have detained 1,133 people across Turkiye since the start of protests five days ago against the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Monday.
The detention last Wednesday of Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, has trig-gered the biggest street protests in Turkiye in more than a decade. On Sunday, a court jailed him, pending trial, on corruption charges that he denies. Despite bans on street gatherings in many cities, the mostly peaceful anti-government demonstra-tions continued for a fifth consecutive night on Sunday, with hundreds of thousands taking part.
Yerlikaya said 123 police officers had been injured during the protests so far, adding that the govern-ment would not allow “the terrorising of the streets”.
Those detained include nine journalists who covered overnight protests in several cities, the Journal-ists’ Union of Turkiye said on Monday.
It was not immediately clear why the journalists were detained. An Agence France Presse (AFP) staff photographer is among the detained journalists, the union said in a post on X.
Imamoglu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has been calling for protests against the court decision to arrest the mayor, which they label as politicised and undemocratic.
Imamoglu has denied the charges he faces as “unimaginable accusations and slanders” and has also called for nationwide protests.
Erdogan said last week that the government would not accept “the disruption of public order”. His government denies that the investigations are politically motivated and says the courts are independ-ent.
Omer Celik, spokesperson for Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, said on Monday the CHP’s call for protests was aimed at covering up the opposition’s shortcomings.
“Democratic protest is a (fundamental) right, but the language used by the CHP is not the language of democratic protest,” Celik said. –Agencies
