Hundreds arrested as Turkey protesters defy crackdown

by Fulya OZERKAN and Hazel WARD

Almost 1,500 people have been detained -- including an AFP photographer -- as tens of thousands continued protests in Istanbul Tuesday after the arrest of the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The biggest protests in Turkey in over a decade erupted last week following the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges, a move opposition supporters see as a blatant violation of the rule of law.

Authorities have hit back with a crackdown that has alarmed rights groups, with seven journalists who covered the protests remanded in custody by an Istanbul court on Tuesday.

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Among them was AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Paris-based news agency.

"His imprisonment is unacceptable. This is why I am asking you to intervene as quickly as possible to obtain the rapid release of our journalist," the agency's CEO and chairman Fabrice Fries said in a letter to the Turkish presidency.

The court charged Akgul, 35, and the others with "taking part in illegal rallies and marches", though Fries said Akgul was not part of the protest but only covering it as a journalist.

- 'No concessions' -

Media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced the arrests as "scandalous", with its Turkey representative Erol Onderoglu saying it "reflects a very serious situation in Turkey".

By Tuesday, police had detained 1,418 people for taking part in "illegal demonstrations", Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, warning there would be "no concessions" for those who "terrorise the streets".

Vast crowds have defied a protest ban to hit the streets daily since the March 19 arrest of Imamoglu, with the unrest spreading across Turkey and prompting nightly clashes with security forces.

In the face of the biggest protests in Turkey since the 2013 Gezi uprising over the redevelopment of an Istanbul park, Erdogan has remained defiant, denouncing the rallies as "street terror".

"Those who spread terror in the streets and want to set fire to this country have nowhere to go. The path they have taken is a dead end," said Erdogan, who has ruled the NATO member for a quarter of a century.

But as he spoke, thousands of students marched through the Sisli district of Istanbul, whose mayor Resul Emrah Sahan was jailed in the same case as Imamoglu.

They chanted "government, resign" and waved flags and banners as a large deployment of riot police stood by.

People in apartments above bashed pots to show their approval.

Many protesters covered their faces with scarves or masks to avoid being identified by the police.

"We can't express ourselves freely," a student who gave her name as Nisa told AFP, saying she nonetheless joined the protest "to defend democracy".

Separately, thousands also rallied for the seventh straight night in a protest organised by Imamoglu's Republican People's Party (CHP) in the Sarachane district, home of the Istanbul city hall that Imamoglu ran since 2019.

Girding for what could be a long standoff, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel called a mass rally for Saturday in Istanbul that he said would be the "largest open-air referendum in history" and would press for early elections.

"We have had enough and we want early elections," Ozel told protesters.

- 'Dark time for democracy' -

With riot police using water cannon, pepper spray and rubber bullets against protesters, the Council of Europe denounced a "disproportionate" use of force while Human Rights Watch said it was a "dark time for democracy" in Turkey.

The United Nations also voiced alarm at Turkey's use of mass detentions and its "unlawful blanket ban on protests", urging the authorities to probe any unlawful use of force.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced "concerns" following a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

But Ozel told the Sarachane crowd: "We do not decrease in numbers with arrests -- there will be even more of us."

He added the extent of the crackdown was such that there was "no room left in Istanbul prisons".