The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has announced that police detained 92 people across İstanbul on Tuesday in a preemptive operation ahead of May Day demonstrations, the BirGün daily reported.
The operation was conducted by the counterterrorism unit of the İstanbul Police Department under the orders of the prosecutor’s office.
The office said the operations targeted individuals suspected of planning to provoke crowds and organize unauthorized demonstrations involving potential violence against police.
Authorities said 84 of those detained were affiliated with banned leftist groups, including the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C), the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP-ML) and the Maoist Communist Party (MKP).
The Mezopotamya news agency reported that some detainees were subjected to police violence.
Among those taken into custody were BEKSAV Co-Chair Ahmet Uçar, Ayşenur Demir, Cemil Aksu of the Polen Ecology Collective and Ruşa Sabur, vocalist for Grup Vardiya. Others detainees included members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), Partizan, the Social Freedom Party (TÖP), Proletarian Revolutionary Stance and Kaldıraç.
DEV Tekstil, a union representing textile workers, said its İstanbul provincial representative Okan Karaçam was also detained. The union stated that police broke down the door and ransacked his home during the raid.
Separately, Alican Doğan, a student in the mechatronics department at Yıldız Technical University, was detained at his dormitory without explanation and taken to the counterterrorism unit, according to the Evrensel daily.
The detentions come amid heightened political tensions. In March, İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a prominent figure from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was detained on charges widely seen as politically motivated. His arrest triggered large protests and drew criticism from international observers, including the European Union and the Council of Europe, over the government’s crackdown on political dissent.
In the weeks following İmamoğlu’s arrest, the opposition has intensified its calls for mass participation in May Day rallies. While labor unions, including the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), the Confederation of Public Employees’ Trade Unions (KESK), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) and the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), plan to gather in Kadıköy, several leftist groups insist on marching to Taksim Square, a site heavily restricted by the government during past May Day protests.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that Taksim Square would again be closed to demonstrations this year, citing security and public order concerns. In response the CHP called on supporters to gather in Saraçhane, where city hall is located, and reaffirmed its demand for access to Taksim. Many leftist groups criticize the CHP for what they see as acquiescing to the government’s ban on gatherings in Turkey’s most populous city’s main square.