Turkish police have detained over 200 people after firing tear gas and rubber bullets to prevent demonstrators from reaching Taksim Square, Istanbul’s customary May Day rally location, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated.
On the eve of May Day, President Tayyip Erdogan announced that the traditional protests would not be allowed in Taksim Square, which had been sealed off by police.
Meanwhile, legal experts argue that this attitude contradicts Turks’ freedom to hold public meetings and demonstrations, which was affirmed by the Constitutional Court in a verdict last October.
Report says the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ozgur Ozel, called for the rally to go ahead in the square despite a ban issued by the Istanbul Governor’s office.
Ozel and Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was re-elected this year on a CHP ticket, then joined workers and labour union members for the march towards Taksim Square nearby to protest against soaring inflation and economic hardships.
However, the May Day organising committee shortly afterwards announced the end of the demonstration in Sarachane following the police intervention, drawing angry jeers from the crowd.
Authorities had deployed snipers on the historic Valens Aqueduct in Sarachane and created a barricade with water cannon vehicles and dozens of police officers, blocking all routes to the square, video showed.
Additionally, some protesters threw stones at security forces as they tried to breach the barricades.
The Interior Minister stated that more than 42,000 police officers had been drafted in Istanbul for the demonstrations, held every year to mark International Labour Day.
Protests are often centred on Taksim Square, where 34 people were killed during demonstrations on May 1, 1977.
