Police use force to break up protests at a university in Turkiye’s capital

A protester waves a Turkish flag during a protest against the arrest of Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, outside Caglayan courthouse, in Istanbul, Turkiye, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

ISTANBUL — Police used pepper spray, plastic pellets and water cannon against protesters in Turkiye’s capital early Thursday, the latest clash in the country’s biggest anti-government protests in over a decade.

The demonstrations began last week following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu was jailed pending trial on corruption charges many see as politically motivated and is also accused of supporting terrorism. The government insists the judiciary is independent, but critics say the evidence in Imamoglu’s case is based on secret witnesses and lacks credibility.

Early Thursday, student demonstrators tried to march and gathered to read a statement near the gates at Middle East Technical University, pro-opposition broadcaster Halk TV and local media reported. They were met by security forces who deployed pepper spray, water cannon and plastic pellets. A standoff ensued where the students hid behind a barricade of dumpsters until the police charged to detain them.

Melih Meric, a legislator with Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party or CHP, was seen soaked with water and suffering from pepper spray exposure.

“My student friends only wanted to make a press statement, but the police strictly did not allow it, this is the result,” Meric said in social media videos.

Imamoglu’s lawyer detained

Imamoglu’s lawyer, Mehmet Pehlivan, who has represented him in multiple cases and in proceedings following his arrest, was detained late Thursday, according to a post on Imamoglu’s social media account. No formal charges were immediately announced.

“There is no end to lies or slander in the prohibitionist mind,” Imamoglu wrote on X. “This time, my lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan was detained on fictitious grounds. As if the coup against democracy was not enough, they cannot tolerate the victims of this coup defending themselves. They want to add a legal coup to the coup against democracy. The evil that a handful of incompetent people are inflicting on our country is growing. Release my lawyer immediately.”

Opposition leaning Cumhuriyer newspaper reported that Pehlivan was taken to the Vatan central precinct in Istanbul.

Nearly 1,900 arrested

Interior Minister Ali Yerkikaya said Thursday that nearly 1,900 people have been arrested over eight days of massive protests across the country. He said that 1,879 suspects were detained, including 260 who were jailed pending trial. A further 468 were released under judicial control while their cases continue. Proceedings are ongoing for 662 other people.

The minister said some faced charges for drug offenses and assault, adding that 150 police officers had been injured. He did not specify the nature of other charges but offenses such as resisting police and not complying with a ban on protests and gatherings have been cited previously.

Demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of largely peaceful protesters have swept across major cities, including opposition-organized rallies outside Istanbul City Hall. Other major protests have been held in Istanbul’s districts of Kadikoy and Sisli districts in recent days.

Some demonstrations have been marred by violence as police used water cannons, tear gas, plastic pellets and pepper spray to breakup protests that have been banned in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

Police continued to carry out house raids targeting protesters Thursday morning. Most of those detained in their homes appear to belong to left-wing parties, trade unions and civil society groups.

Media crackdown

Eleven journalists were arrested and sent to jail Wednesday after covering the protests. At least eight were released under judicial control a day later, the Media and Law Studies Association said, but still face charges relating to the protests.

Turkiye’s broadcasting authority, meanwhile, issued a 10-day airwave ban on opposition-supporting channel Sozcu TV, the station said. The penalty was issued for “inciting the public to hatred and hostility” during broadcasts leading up to Imamoglu’s imprisonment.

Radio and Television Supreme Council member Ilhan Tasci said that other channels backing the opposition were fined and handed program suspensions over their protest coverage.

In response to the growing criticism, Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and a senior aide to Erdogan, defended the bans and penalties on X.

“The attitude that the public authority should take against broadcasts that aim to incite the public to hatred and hostility, disrupt public order, and suppress individual rights and freedoms is clear,” Altun said.

He added that “Media institutions and organizations must broadcast responsibly, principled, ethically, and based on truth,” and warned that broadcasts which “aim to discredit Turkiye, encourage vandalism, escalate violence, provide ground for terrorist organizations, and undermine judicial institutions cannot be defended in any way.”

Altun said that media coverage that included “slanders and insults” were defended “under the guise of press freedom” and added that that press organizations must “abandon their attitudes that ignore the serious slander, insult, and accusations constantly voiced against our President and government in media organizations broadcasting in axis close to their own ideology.”

In Ankara, a group of CHP lawmakers headed to protest at the broadcasting authority’s offices said their party bus was “hijacked” by police. “We wanted to bring our election bus ΓǪ But the police of this country take the key and give it to the (broadcasting council) officer,” CHP member of parliament Ali Mahir Basarir said.

BBC reporter Mark Lowen was deported from Turkiye following his arrest Wednesday, the British news broadcaster said. He was detained at his hotel and held for 17 hours before being issued with a notice describing him as a “threat to public order,” according to a BBC statement Thursday.

The state-run Analdu Agency reported that 30 people were detained in Istanbul for what it described as “creating panic” with “provocative” social media posts calling others to street protests.

Mayor and more than 100 others pending trial

Imamoglu, the Istanbul mayor, was detained in a dawn raid on his home on March 19 and later remanded to prison. He faces charges stemming from two investigations into the opposition-controlled Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality -- a corruption case and one alleging support for terrorism.

The mayor is the main challenger to Erdogan in an election currently scheduled for 2028 but which is likely to take place earlier.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Thursday that 106 people had been arrested in both municipality investigations, with 51 in jail pending trial, including Imamoglu. Those detained include municipal officials and business figures accused of crimes such as bribery, extortion and bid-rigging.

Many see the case against Imamoglu as politically motivated. Protesters often say they have come out against Turkiye’s democratic backsliding and increasing authoritarianism, as well as the country’s bleak economic outlook.

Imamoglu was confirmed as the CHP candidate for presidential elections the same day he was sent to prison He has performed well in recent polls against Erdogan, and his election as mayor of Turkiye’s largest city in 2019 was a major blow to the president.

By Robert Badendieck And Andrew Wilks