Hundreds of thousands of democratic demonstrators have returned to the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, to support the city’s imprisoned mayor.
Ekrem Imamoglu, considered the main political rival of Turkish president Receptacle, Erdogan, was arrested last week on corruption charges after causing massive protests.
He denied the charges and claimed his arrest was politically motivated. Imamoguru is currently being detained in solitary confinement in a high security prison on the outskirts of Istanbul.
The crowd on Saturday was so big that it spilled from the protest location into the adjacent park. The chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) of Imamoguru read a letter from imprisoned politicians and addressed the protesters.
“I have no fear. You are behind me, beside me. I have no fear because the nation is united. The nation is united against the oppressors,” Reuters reported. It was accompanied by an AI-generated video showing Imamoguru reading his letter from a prison cell.
Imamoguru’s wife Direk also protested, telling the crowd, “We’ll continue to fight and continue to fight.”
The protesters gathered under the cloudless blue sky, waving red and white turkey flags and chanting, “Rights, laws, justice!”
Imamoguru served as mayor of Istanbul since 2019, and achieved an overwhelming victory in last year’s mayoral election.
He is widely regarded as the only Turkish politician who can challenge Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (also known as AK).
A series of enormous democratic protests have taken the country since Imamoguru’s arrest earlier this month.
They also raised concerns that when his case was heard in court, he would not face a bit of a free and fair trial.
The government has denied that Imamoguru’s arrest is politically motivated, claiming that Turkish courts are completely independent.
Erdogan accused the protest of winning “street terrorism” and that protesters of attacking police and damaging public property.
Sometimes, riot police tried to disperse these protests using tear gas and rubber bullets.
