The second night of protest in Turkiya after Istanbul’s mayor detained | News of the courts

The arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is moving to protests in several cities that are likely to continue in the weekend.

Turkish protesters went out to the streets the second consecutive night after Istanbul’s arrest Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part of a separate investigation into corruption and terrorism.

Demonstrations They were held on Thursday at the Istanbul City Hall, where small groups of protesters broke out with police as they tried to approach the City Square of Taxim Mass Demonstrations in 2013.

In Ankara, the capital of Turkey, the police used a water cannon to dispel the crowds at the Technical University in the Middle East. Smaller protests were also recorded in the town of Izmir, on the Turkish coast, and Adana, in southern Turkiya.

The mayor was arrested in Ration on Wednesday, just a few days before he needed to announce his candidacy for the Presidency in 2028 as an opposition candidate. Dozens of reputable figures, including journalists, businessmen and staff of the Istanbul Municipal Government, have also been detained.

He is a member of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) and is considered one of the main rivals of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He faces multiple accusations, including “bribing, extortion, corruption, exacerbated by fraud and illegal obtaining personal data for profit as part of a criminal organization,” together with separate accusations of alleged cooperation with the Kurdistan’s Workers’ Parties (PKK) in the municipal elections.

PKK is labeled a “terrorist organization” in Turkiye and stands behind a prolonged rebellion intended for the creation of an independent Kurdistan.

Earlier this week, the Turkish university has canceled Imamoglu’s diploma for “irregularities”, a move that could see him forbidden in politics. The accusations add an increasing list of legal probes against the mayor, of which from 2022 they date from 2022.

The protests seemed to have encouraged Imamoglu’s custody, continued in the weekend, despite the four -day ban on which the government imposed.

Addressing the gathering in front of the Istanbul City Hall on Thursday night, the leader of CHP Ozgur Ozel called on supporters to continue to demonstrate.

“Yes, I call people on the streets,” he said, urging them not to resort to violence.

Some have also taken to social media to convey their complaints, dividing 18.6 million posts within 24 hours of custody Imamoglu, said the Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya. Among them, it was considered that 261 experts on social media were “stimulating” public hatred or crime, which police detained for custody 37 suspicious account users, he said.

Turkish market trading is also affected by the arrest of surprise. Trading was temporarily stopped on Wednesday to prevent panic sales, while the lira fell to a record low.

Despite the restlessness, President Erdogan and his ruling party and the development party continued to defend Imamoglu’s custody.

Omer Celik, a party spokesman, called on the opposition to respect legal proceedings.

“What a politician needs to do is follow the court proceedings,” Celik told the media. “None of us have any content information [criminal] file. “