Thousands of people protest in Türkiye on the arrest of the Erdogan rival, more than 1,500

Nearly 1,500 people were detained – including an AFP photographer – while tens of thousands of demonstrations continued in the Turkish capital on Tuesday after the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The biggest demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade broke out last week after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu for corruption, a move of opposition supporters considers a flagrant violation of the rule of law.

Authorities retaliated with a repression that alarmed rights defense groups, with seven journalists who covered the demonstrations sent on Tuesday by a court in Istanbul.

Among them was the AFP photographer, Yasin Akgul, drawing a clear reprimand from the news agency based in Paris.

“His imprisonment is unacceptable. This is why I ask you to intervene as quickly as possible to obtain the rapid release of our journalist,” said the CEO and president of the agency, Fabrice Fries, in a letter to the Turkish presidency.

The court accused Akgul, 35, and the others of “participating in illegal gatherings and marches”, although Fries said that Kgul was not part of the demonstration but only covered it as a journalist.

'No concession'

Media Freedom Group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced arrests as “scandalous”, his representative of Turkey Erol Onderoglu saying that he “reflects a very serious situation in Türkiye”.

On Tuesday, the police detained 1,418 people for participating in “illegal demonstrations,” wrote Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on X, warning that there would be “no concession” for those who “terrorize the streets”.

Large crowds have challenged a prohibition of protest to hit the streets daily since the March 19 of Imamoglu's arrest, with the disturbances spread over Turkey and causing nightly clashes with security forces.

Faced with the biggest demonstrations in Türkiye since the GEZI 2013 uprising on the redevelopment of a Park in Istanbul, Erdogan remained provocative, denouncing the rallies like “Terror of the Street”.

“Those who spread terror in the streets and want to set fire to this country has nowhere to go. The path they have taken is a dead end,” said Erdogan, who governed the member of NATO for a quarter of a century.

But while he spoke, thousands of students walked in the Sisli d'Istanbul district, whose mayor Resul Emrah Sahan was imprisoned in the same case as Imamoglu.

They chanted “the government, to resign” and agitated flags and banners while a large deployment of riot police stood.

People in apartments above the pots have been denounced to show their approval.

Many demonstrators have covered their faces of scarves or masks to avoid being identified by the police.

“We cannot express ourselves freely,” said a student who gave her name as Nisa, saying that she had nevertheless joined the demonstration “to defend democracy”.

In addition, thousands of people also joined for the seventh consecutive night in a demonstration organized by the Republican People's Party of Imamoglu (CHP) in the Sarachane district, which houses the town hall of Istanbul that Imamoglu has led since 2019.

Girding for what could be a long confrontation, the chief of the CHP, Ozgur Ozel, called a mass gathering for Saturday in Istanbul which, according to him, would be the “biggest outdoor referendum in history” and would pressure for the first elections.

“We have enough and we want early elections,” Ozel told demonstrators.

“ Dark time for democracy ''

With the riot police using water cannons, pepper spray and rubber bullets against demonstrators, the Council of Europe denounced a “disproportionate” use of force while Human Rights Watch said that it was a “dark time for democracy” in Turkey.

The United Nations also expressed the alarm during the use by Turkey of mass detentions and its “illegal general prohibition of protests”, urging the authorities to probe any illegal use of force.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed “concerns” following a meeting with Turkish Minister Hakan Fidan.

But Ozel told the crowd of Sarachane: “We do not decrease in number with arrests – we will be even more.”

He added that the extent of the repression was such that there was “no more room in the prisons of Istanbul”.

(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)