A protester shouts slogans throughout a protest towards the arrest of Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, in Istanbul, Turkey, on Saturday.
Francisco Seco/AP
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Francisco Seco/AP
ISTANBUL — Prosecutors early Sunday requested that detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the highest challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, be formally arrested over allegations of corruption and terror hyperlinks.
A court docket is now set to resolve whether or not the favored opposition determine can be charged and jailed pending a trial.
The arrest this week of Imamoglu has intensified political tensions and sparked widespread protests throughout Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in a number of cities to voice their opposition.
Many view his arrest as a politically pushed try to take away Imamoglu from the subsequent presidential race, at present scheduled for 2028. Authorities officers reject the accusation and say Turkey’s courts are unbiased.
Police questioned Imamoglu for round 5 hours on Saturday as a part of an investigation into allegations of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Employees’ Occasion, or PKK, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported. A day earlier he was questioned for 4 hours over the corruption accusations. The mayor rejected all fees throughout each interrogations.
He was later transferred to a courthouse for questioning by prosecutors together with some 90 different individuals who had been additionally detained with him.
Authorities barred entry to the courthouse utilizing barricades on native roads and shutting close by metro stations. Tons of of cops and over a dozen water cannon vans had been deployed. Nonetheless, a whole lot gathered in entrance of the constructing shouting: “Rights, law, justice!”
Largest wave of protests in Turkey in additional than decade
Others gathered exterior the Istanbul metropolis corridor or took to the streets to denounce the mayor’s resignation for a fourth night time of nationwide protests, within the largest wave of avenue demonstrations in Turkey in additional than a decade.
The demonstrations had been largely peaceable however a gaggle of protesters, attempting to interrupt by way of barricades to succeed in Istanbul’s most important sq., threw flares, stones and different objects at police, which responded with pepper spray. Some demonstrators stated rubber bullets had been fired.
Police used water cannons and tear fuel to scatter demonstrators in Ankara.
Inside Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated 323 individuals had been detained following protests Saturday night time. Earlier, he stated: “There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the people’s peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.”
Rising protests in response to the arrest
Riot police use pepper spray to clear protesters throughout a protest towards the arrest of Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, in Istanbul, Turkey, on Saturday.
Francisco Seco/AP
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Francisco Seco/AP
Imamoglu was detained on Wednesday following a daybreak raid on his residence over allegations of monetary crimes and hyperlinks to Kurdish militants. Dozens of different outstanding figures, together with two district mayors, had been additionally detained.
On Friday, police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear fuel and rubber bullets to push again a whole lot of protesters who tried to interrupt by way of a barricade in entrance of the town’s historic aqueduct whereas hurling flares, stones and different objects at officers. Police additionally dispersed teams that had rallied exterior of the town corridor for a 3rd night time operating, after the opposition Republican Folks’s Occasion chief, Ozgur Ozel, delivered a speech in assist of the mayor.
Concurrently, police broke up demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, in addition to within the Aegean coastal metropolis of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at occasions, based on tv photographs. Hundreds marched in a number of different cities calling on the federal government to resign.
Earlier, Erdogan stated the federal government wouldn’t tolerate avenue protests and accused the opposition occasion of hyperlinks to corruption and terror organizations.
The Istanbul governor’s workplace introduced it was increasing a ban on demonstrations till March 26 and imposed restrictions on the entry and exit of automobiles deemed to be transporting individuals “likely to participate in unlawful activities.”
Erdogan on Saturday accused the CHP’s management of turning the occasion “into an apparatus to absolve a handful of municipal robbers who have become blinded by money.”
He additionally accused it of “doing everything to disturb the public peace, to polarize the nation.”
Presidential main to be held
Imamoglu’s arrest got here simply days earlier than he was anticipated to be nominated because the opposition Republican Folks’s Occasion’s presidential candidate in a main on Sunday. Ozel has stated that the first, the place round 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go forward as deliberate.
The opposition occasion has additionally urged residents to take part in a symbolic election on Sunday — by way of improvised poll packing containers to be arrange throughout Turkey — to point out solidarity with Imamoglu.
In a tweet posted shortly earlier than his arrival on the courthouse, Imamoglu urged the general public to safeguard the poll packing containers for Sunday’s main, “Don’t forget: they are very afraid of you and your democratic right to vote.”
In an earlier message, Imamoglu described his arrest as a “coup” and accused the federal government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the nation’s troubled economic system.
