The most serious clash between protesters and police in the saga of jailed Turkish opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu took place on Thursday, as the police used pepper spray, water cannons, and non-lethal plastic bullets against student demonstrators outside the Middle East Technical University in the capital city of Ankara.
Protests have been raging across Turkey for the past week following the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the leading candidate against 22-year incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu has been accused of corruption and aiding a terrorist organization, namely the Kurdish separatist party known as the PKK.
Erdogan ordered a ban on street protests, but Imamoglu and his CHP party urged their supporters to defy his orders and demonstrate anyway. Thousands of them have done so, prompting an increasingly harsh crackdown from Turkish security forces.
On Thursday, thousands of students gathered near the Middle East Technical University and attempted to read a statement. Security forces attacked with non-lethal weapons to disperse the protest. A group of students attempted to dig in behind a line of trash dumpsters, but the police broke through their barricade and arrested them.
“My student friends only wanted to make a press statement, but the police strictly did not allow it, this is the result,” said CHP lawmaker Melih Meric, who was hit with both water cannon and pepper spray while attending the protest.
One of the more bizarre images to emerge from the confrontation was the sight of a demonstrator dressed as the Pokemon character Pikachu running from the police and making impressive time despite his awkward costume. CHP posted the footage on social media, officially welcoming Pikachu to “the resistance.”
According to Interior Minister Ali Yerkikaya, almost 1,900 people have been arrested during the protests. Yerkikaya insisted many of them faced charges such as drug abuse and assault, including assaulting police officers. He said 150 officers have been injured so far.
The protest crackdown includes a strong effort to stifle opposition and foreign journalism. Eleven journalists have been arrested so far. BBC reporter Mark Lowen was deported from Turkey on Wednesday after spending 17 hours under house arrest in his hotel room for posing a “threat to public order.”
“This is an extremely troubling incident and we will be making representations to the Turkish authorities,” said BBC news CEO Deborah Turness.
“Equating professional journalists with protesters not only shows shameless bad faith but also highlights the grave interference of political power in the judiciary that is attempting to silence the media,” Reporters Without Borders said on Thursday,.
Dozens of social media users have been arrested for “provocative” posts. Opposition media outlets have been threatened, fined, and in one case shut down completely.
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