Protesters in the Turkish cities of Izmir, Istanbul, and the capital of Ankara clashed with police on Friday as protests against the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu grew larger and more intense.
Thousands took to the streets on Thursday and Friday despite a four-day ban on public demonstrations imposed by the Istanbul Governor’s Office. Ankara and Izmir imposed their own five-day protest bans on Friday as angry citizens filled the streets.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Friday that 53 people were detained during protests overnight, while 16 police officers were injured.
The worst of the scuffles took place when police blocked protesters from entering Taksim Square, a bustling shopping and dining district in Istanbul. There were also large demonstrations, and fights with police, at universities across Turkey.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been accused of ordering Imamoglu’s arrest to sideline his most popular prospective opponent in the next election, dismissed the protests as “theatrics” on Thursday.
“We have neither the time to waste on pointless debates nor stacks of money to recklessly throw around,” Erdogan groused.
“CHP’s issues are not the country’s issues, but the issues of a handful of opportunists in their headquarters. We have no time to waste on the opposition’s theatrics,” he said.
Ozgur Ozel, the head of Imamoglu’s CHP party, responded by calling for more citizens to demonstrate against Erdogan’s authoritarian rule.
“Hey Erdogan, you’re most scared of the streets. We are now on the streets, in squares. Continue to be afraid. While you keep the one we elected in custody, we will not sit at home,” Ozel said.
“Mr. Tayyip, you are scared and you are asking ‘are you calling people to the streets? Are you calling people to the squares?’ Yes. I didn’t fill up these squares or these streets, you did,” he taunted.
Yerlikaya and Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc denounced Ozel as “irresponsible” for demanding illegal street protests.
“Calling people to the streets and squares is irresponsible to say the least. No one can bear the consequences of inciting unrest — politically, legally or morally,” Yerlikaya said.
“Gathering and marching in protest are fundamental rights. But calling to the streets over an ongoing legal investigation is illegal and unacceptable,” Tunc said.
Tunc promised that an “independent and unbiased judiciary” would review the evidence against Imamoglu, a promise few of Imamoglu’s supporters seem inclined to accept.
Imamoglu was arrested on Wednesday along with 105 others, most of them people who worked for him as employees of the Istanbul municipal government. The mayor was charged with corruption, racketeering, and abetting a terrorist organization — the Kurdish separatist militia known as the PKK.
Imamoglu was the only candidate running for the CHP’s presidential nomination, which he would have secured on Sunday. Recent polls show him running ahead of Erdogan, who has been in power for 22 years. Erdogan’s popularity has been slipping as the Turkish economy declines, and he is technically barred from running for reelection again, although he is widely expected to rewrite the national constitution to remove his term limit.
Erdogan took precautions to suppress dissent after the popular Istanbul mayor was arrested, including bans on public demonstrations and restrictions on social media, but unrest swelled despite his efforts.
Ozel predicted during an interview with Reuters on Thursday that Erodgan’s ham-fisted efforts to crush the opposition would only make Imamoglu and CHP stronger.
“In the event Imamoglu’s candidacy is blocked, we believe this will turn into a much greater support. We will win with Imamoglu. We will win easily. If Imamoglu is barred, we will certainly win,” he declared.
Ozel reaffirmed that Imamoglu will be formally anointed as CHP’s candidate on Sunday, even if he is in jail. He also dismissed Istanbul University’s curiously-timed decision to annul Immamoglu’s degree, which would technically bar him from running for president.
“We will support this candidacy until the end, all together. Even if Ekrem Imamoglu is arrested, Ekrem Imamoglu is our candidate,” Ozel said.
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