Anti-government protesters in Türkiye said they planned to keep up a campaign of demonstrations triggered by the jailing of Istanbul’s mayor despite mass arrests and clashes with police. 

The protests began last week when Ekrem Imamoglu — President Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival — was detained on corruption charges days before he was to be confirmed as a presidential candidate. 

Protesters, opposition parties, European leaders and rights groups called a politicised and anti-democratic move.

The arrest prompted hundreds of thousands of people to gather in squares, streets and university campuses nationwide chanting anti-Erdogan slogans.

They are calling for Mr Imamoglu’s release and improved rights in Türkiye, in what has become the biggest anti-government protests there in a decade.

The largely-peaceful demonstrations have been held despite authorities issuing bans against gatherings.

Police have also arrested more than 1,100 people in relation to the unrest.

At the main protest in Istanbul’s Sarachane park, between city hall and a towering Roman aqueduct, most people have cheered speeches by opposition leaders while others, some 200 metres away, have chanted and faced off with hundreds of white-helmeted riot police.

“I think it will continue for a long time depending on how the people, police and the government react,” said one university student there. 

“I’ll try to come as much as I can … because the government has left us no justice.”

“I was scared when I first came, thinking we might get arrested. But I’m not scared now,” she said.

Others told Reuters they expect to continue daily protests, even as the main opposition Republic People’s Party (CHP) has said that Tuesday will mark the last day of planned events at Sarachane.

Protests challenge long-time Turkish leader

The continued protests pose a major challenge for Mr Erdogan, who has sought to label them “street terrorism”. 

He has tolerated little criticism from the streets since authorities violently shut down the sprawling anti-government Gezi Park protests in 2013.

After a cabinet meeting in Ankara on Monday, local time, the president accused the CHP of provoking citizens and predicted they would feel ashamed for the “evil” done to the country once their “show” fades away.

The government has rejected claims of political influence and says the judiciary is independent.

The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has in recent days repeatedly urged people out to the streets, echoing a call on Sunday by the mayor Mr Imamoglu before he was jailed pending a trial on corruption charges that he denies.

CHP chairperson Ozgur Ozel, who has given hoarse-voiced speeches from atop a bus at Sarachane park each evening, has said the last event there on Tuesday would be both “a great end and big kick off” to new rallies elsewhere, vowing to fight on.

He gave no details on the plans, but said he will keep overnighting at city hall until the CHP-majority council there elects an acting mayor on Wednesday.

Plea to release arrested ‘legitimate’ protesters

On Monday at Sarachane, a physician said he hoped in coming days to also attend demonstrations at Silivri prison where the mayor is behind bars just outside the city.

“I hope it never stops,” he said of the rallies. 

“We are here because of justice and democracy and because we don’t believe that we are living in a democratic country.”

Elsewhere in Istanbul on Monday evening a sit-in protest briefly blocked all traffic at the 19th-century Galata Bridge crossing the Golden Horn waterway.

Students have driven much of the civil disobedience and many have boycotted university classes since Monday. Academics in many universities observed a one-day protest strike on Tuesday.

The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Michael O’Flaherty, on Monday called on Turkish authorities to immediately release protesters who were detained “for the legitimate exercise of their human rights.”

Reuters