Massive Police Deployment In Istanbul On May Day Amid Opposition Crackdown, Over 400 Arrests
On May Day, Turkey deployed over 50,000 police officers in Istanbul, resulting in the arrest of around 400 people. The government's crackdown on unauthorized demonstrations was criticised by Amnesty International.
Over 50,000 officers were employed in a massive show of force in the metropolis, a day after the authorities shut metro, bus and ferry services in Istanbul, reports news agency AFP. This year’s May Day comes as the government is embroiled in a showdown with the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), following the detention of its presidential candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu.
Imamoglu is the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
News agency AFP reported that around 400 people were arrested on Thursday.
"The number of arrests that have been reported to us exceeds 400," the Istanbul branch of the CHD lawyers group wrote on X on Thursday.
According to a statement issued later, the city authorities said that "382 individuals who had gathered to organise non-authorised demonstrations were detained," adding that 52,656 police officers had been deployed in the city.
According to AFP, several dozen people were arrested in neighbourhoods on the European side of the city. Several thousands assembled in the sanctioned protests called by the labour unions on the Asian side of the city.
"They blocked all the streets, as if it's a state of emergency," a student named Murat, who did not want to give his last name, told AFP.
"They shows the government is scared."
Amnesty urged Turkey on Wednesday to lift the ban on the demonstrations in Taksim.
"The restrictions on May Day celebrations in Taksim Square are based on entirely spurious security and public order grounds and... must be urgently lifted," said Dinushika Dissanayake, an Amnesty's specialist on Europe as quoted by news agency AFP.
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