A Turkish court has ordered the arrest of 13 people who were detained during a massive opposition rally at İstanbul City Hall that marked the 100th day since the city’s popular mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was jailed, Turkish Minute reported.
Tuesday’s rally, which drew at least 10,000 participants, was held in support of İmamoğlu, a leading figure in the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its presidential candidate for the next election, who was jailed in March in what critics describe as a politically motivated corruption probe.
Turkish police detained 42 people during the large demonstration, with eight released later the same day following initial questioning.
According to Anadolu, prosecutors on Thursday referred 15 detainees to court for arrest on charges of “insulting the president” and violating the law on meetings and demonstrations. Seven of them were arrested earlier in the day while six from the remaining eight were also arrested later on Thursday.
The other 21 detainees were released under judicial supervision.
The developments follow a large-scale police operation in İzmir, Turkey’s third-largest city and another opposition stronghold, where the number of people taken into custody rose to 137 on Thursday. The suspects, all linked to City Hall, were detained amid an investigation into alleged corruption, facing charges of rigging public tenders, interfering with contract fulfillment and aggravated fraud.
The operation resembled a March 19 crackdown in İstanbul, which targeted officials in opposition-run municipalities and led to İmamoğlu’s detention.
İmamoğlu’s arrest sparked widespread protests in March, with thousands gathering outside İstanbul City Hall, in the Saraçhane neighborhood, at the urging of the CHP. The rally quickly escalated into nightly clashes with riot police and spread across the country, marking Turkey’s worst street unrest in over a decade.
Nearly 2,000 people were detained, among them many students as well as a handful of journalists.
Although the nightly protests ended after a week, the CHP has continued to hold rallies across Turkey, boosting its standing in the polls.
