Image: HUSEYIN ALDEMIR (X03654)
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu of the main opposition party CHP said on Sunday evening that a group of people threw stones at him in the afternoon while he was giving a speech from the roof of his campaign bus. At least nine listeners were injured. İmamoğlu said so in a video posted on Twitter. The CHP distributed images showing people with head injuries.
İmamoğlu accused the security forces of not doing anything on purpose. It’s a provocation. He stressed that the incident had nothing to do with Erzurum residents. Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu wrote in a first reaction on Twitter: “Ekrem İmamoğlu, who calls the people in Erzurum provocateurs, is himself a provocateur.” İmamoğlu made his way back to Istanbul in the evening. Numerous supporters awaited him there.
İmamoğlu is a politician of the largest opposition party CHP and supports presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the election campaign. If the opposition wins, Imamoglu will become vice president. Kılıçdaroğlu condemned the attack on Twitter and called on his followers to remain calm. He accused the government of collaborating with the mafia and militants, saying, “Their goal is to scare people and keep them out of the polls.”
In the parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14, a neck-and-neck race is emerging between incumbent Erdogan and his challenger Kılıçdaroğlu.
Source: Nachrichten
