Protest in Türkiye does not break off – tens of thousands on the street again

In Turkey, people in many parts of Türkiye took the sixth evening in a row. In Istanbul, thousands of students moved to the central ranking location in front of the city administration in a protest, as local media reported. In Ankara, too, thousands took the street again, as was seen on television pictures, and called slogans like “Government, resignation!”.

The protests are directed against the imprisonment and provisional discontinuation of the Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, who is considered the most important competitor of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His party CHP appointed him presidential candidate despite his detention on Sunday. He is blamed with corruption and terrorism investigation. He described the allegations “immoral and baseless”.

CHP boss Özgür Özel called in front of tens of thousands of demonstration participants in Istanbul in the evening to the boycott of certain brands that are considered close to the government-including a well-known coffee shop chain and a petrol station operator.

Erdogan calls the mostly peaceful demonstrations a “violent movement” and has announced that the opposition will be held accountable for its protest calls. The demonstrations are prohibited in large cities such as Izmir, Ankara and Istanbul. According to the figures from the Ministry of the Interior, there have been more than 1,000 arrests since the start of the protests.