Thousands of people gather in Istanbul while Erdogan issues a warning against protests against the mayor's arrest

Friday, demonstrations of Istanbul (AP) broke out in several Turkish cities while people gathered against the Arrest of the mayor of Istanbuls And the best rival to the president Recep Tayyip ErdoganDespite the Turkish leaders, warning Stern that the street demonstrations would not be tolerated.

In Istanbul, the police used pepper gas, tear gas and rubber bullets to repel hundreds of demonstrators who tried to unravel a barricade in front of the historic aqueduct of cities and threw enlightening rockets, stones and other objects.

The police also broke the demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, as well as in the coastal city of the Izmir Entreale, using energetic measures sometimes, according to the images indicated on the private TV Halk. Thousands of people have worked in several other cities calling on the government to resign, the station reported.

At least 97 people were held nationally during the demonstrations, said Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested In a dawn raid at his residence on Wednesday for alleged ties of corruption and terrorism, degenerating a repression against opposition figures and dissident votes. Several other leading figures, including two district mayors, have also been detained.

Many consider arrest as a politically motivated attempt to remove a popular opposition figure And Erdogan's key challenger in the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028. Government officials reject the accusations that legal actions against opposition personalities are politically motivated and insist that the turkey courts operate independently.

The mayor is questioned by the police

Imamoglu was questioned by police for four hours on corruption charges, during which he denied all the accusations, reported the Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media. He was to be transferred to a courthouse on Saturday evening for interrogation by prosecutors.

His arrest has triggered the biggest demonstrations since 2013, when Turkey has been shaken by antigenmental mass demonstrations that left eight dead.

Earlier Friday, the leader of the turkey opposition party, Ozgur Ozel, renewed an appeal to supporters to go on the street for peaceful demonstrations, while the authorities have expanded a ban on protests and criticized the appeal as irresponsible.

I invite tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions, to demonstrate peacefully, express our democratic reaction and exercise our constitutional rights, he said.

Addressing a large gathering outside the town hall, Ozel accused Erdogan of using the judiciary as a tool after having failed to defeat the mayor in a fair manner.

Erdogan says the authorities will not tolerate the demonstrations

Erdogan, increasingly authoritarian after more than two decades in power, said that the government would not tolerate street demonstrations and accused the opposition party of links with corruption and terrorism organizations.

An anti-corruption operation in Istanbul is used as an excuse for stirring the disorders in our streets. I want it to be known that we do not allow a handful of opportunists to bring trouble to Turkey just to protect their looting patterns, said Erdogan.

Point the streets instead of the courtroom to defend theft, looting, anarchy and fraud is serious irresponsibility, said Erdogan. Just as we have not gone to the terrorism of the street so far, we will not bow to vandalism in the future either.

Friday, the authorities of Ankara and Izmir announced a five -day ban on demonstrations, following a similar measure imposed earlier in Istanbul. The authorities announced on Friday, more road closings in Istanbul on Friday and closed metro stops near a university in Ankara, where violent clashes occurred a day earlier.

The mayor must be approved as presidential candidate

The judgment of the Imamoglus came only a few days before he was appointed candidate for the primary of the opposition to the Republican peoples of Parys. Ozel said primary, where approximately 1.5 million delegates can vote, will continue as planned.

The opposition party also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday thanks to improvised polls to be installed through Turkey to show solidarity with Imamoglu.

Analysts say that Imamoglu could be withdrawn from his functions and replaced by a mayor of fiduciaire, if he is officially responsible for links to the workers' workers in prohibited, or PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.

Meanwhile, Ozel also said that the opposition party would hold an extraordinary party congress on April 6, to thwart the authorities' attempts to appoint a fiduciary president to lead the party. The decision came in the midst of speculations according to which the authorities could cancel the last congress of the parties, held in 2023, for the purchase of votes and other alleged irregularities, and appoint a layer in the side.

Shooting of armed men on the Iraqi Consulate

Also Friday, armed men opened fire on the Iraqi consulate in Istanbul, Turkish and Iraqi foreign ministries said. No injury has been reported.

The Iraks Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that unknown attackers leading to a motorcycle and armed with an assault rifle, fired eight shots in the building before fleeing.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the necessary investigation is meticulously completed by our security units and that officials will be brought to justice. He said that measures had been taken to carry out Iraqi diplomatic missions in Ankara, Istanbul and Gaziantep.

It was not clear what could have motivated the shooting.