The streets the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Özgur Özel is calling people to are "dead ends," said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday, referring to the CHP’s calls for people to protest the Istanbul’s mayor’s arrest.
“The street the CHP leader calls people to is a dead-end street, remember. It is a grave irresponsibility for him to point to the street instead of the courtrooms to defend theft, robbery, lawlessness and fraud,” Erdoğan said as he attended a Nevruz celebration event in Istanbul.
On Thursday, some protestors clashed with police in Ankara, Izmir and Istanbul, including at universities, and many rallied at the municipal headquarters in Istanbul despite a four-day ban on gatherings. Scattered protests took place across the country as authorities erected barricades blocking several streets.
On Saturday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced more than 340 people were detained across nine cities on Friday night.
Yerlikaya said "343 suspects were caught in the protests that took place in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Çanakkale, Eskişehir, Konya and Edirne," warning that those who sought to sow "chaos and provocation will definitely not be tolerated."
The protests erupted mainly after Özel called for people to hit the streets at a rally at the Istanbul Municipality building on Thursday. Moreover, Özel on Friday renewed his call on supporters to take to the streets, even as authorities widened a ban on protests and criticized the call as irresponsible.
Imamoğlu, 54, was taken into custody on Wednesday on charges of rampant corruption in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) and aiding the PKK terrorist group by recruiting its sympathizers.
