Hundreds of supporters have gathered in front of a Turkish courthouse where detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu faced further questioning over allegations of corruption and terror links. 

His arrest this week intensified political tensions and sparked widespread protests across Türkiye, with demonstrators rallying in multiple cities to voice their opposition.

Mr Imamoglu appeared in court late on Saturday local time, television channels reported. 

Police questioned Mr Imamoglu for around five hours on Saturday local time as part of an investigation into allegations of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported. 

A day earlier he was questioned for four hours over the corruption accusations. 

According to documents seen by Reuters, he answered at least 70 questions in total during his police interrogation, denying all charges brought against him. 

“I see today during my interrogation that I and my colleagues are faced with unimaginable accusations and slanders,” Imamoglu said in his defence at a counter-terrorism police interrogation, one document showed.

He was later transferred to a courthouse along with some 90 other people who were also detained with him.

The authorities barred access to the courthouse using barricades on local roads and closing nearby metro stations.

Hundreds of police officers and over a dozen water cannon trucks were deployed. 

Still, hundreds gathered in front of the building shouting: “Rights, law, justice!”

Crowds also began to rally outside the city hall for a fourth night in a show of support to the mayor.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on social media that 343 suspects had been detained in protests in major cities on Friday night, adding, “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.”

Growing protests in reaction to the arrest

Mr Imamoglu, who is a popular opposition figure and seen as a top challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was detained on Wednesday following a dawn raid on his residence over allegations of financial crimes and links to Kurdish militants.

Dozens of other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure in the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028. 

Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Türkiye’s courts operate independently.

His arrest has ignited protests that have steadily increased in intensity.

On Friday, police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the city’s historic aqueduct while hurling flares, stones and other objects at officers. 

Police also dispersed groups that had rallied outside of the city hall for a third night running, after the opposition Republican People’s Party leader Özgür Özel delivered a speech in support of the mayor.

Simultaneously, police broke up demonstrations in  Türkiye’s capital Ankara as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to television images. 

Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign.

Earlier, Mr Erdoğan said the government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of links to corruption and terror organisations.

The Istanbul governor’s office announced it was expanding a ban on demonstrations until March 26 and imposed restrictions on the entry and exit of vehicles deemed to be transporting people “likely to participate in unlawful activities”.

Erdogan on Saturday accused the CHP’s leadership of turning the party “into an apparatus to absolve a handful of municipal robbers who have become blinded by money”.

He also accused it of “doing everything to disturb the public peace, to polarise the nation.”

Presidential primary to be held

Mr Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday. 

Mr Özel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.

The opposition party has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday — through improvised ballot boxes to be set up across Türkiye — to show solidarity with Mr Imamoglu.

In an X post made shortly before his arrival at the courthouse, Mr Imamoglu urged the public to safeguard the ballot boxes for Sunday’s primary, “Don’t forget: they are very afraid of you and your democratic right to vote.”

In an earlier message, Mr Imamoglu described his arrest as a “coup” and accused the government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the country’s troubled economy.

AP/Reuters