İstanbul authorities on Wednesday closed metro trains, buses and Bosporus ferries, paralyzing Turkey’s biggest city in a bid to prevent May Day demonstrations.
Ahead of the holiday, police arrested 100 people allegedly planning to protest in İstanbul’s central Taksim Square, where demonstrations have been banned since 2013.
The government has also been embroiled in a showdown with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) since the detention of its presidential candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of İstanbul and the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Since protests in 2013 that spread across Turkey and were suppressed by police, claiming eight lives, the government has prohibited gatherings in Taksim, even for May 1 Labor Day, International Women’s Day and Pride marches.
From Wednesday evening, seven metro stations and some of İstanbul’s busiest bus and streetcar stops were closed off, according to city authorities.
The crackdown includes restrictions on access to the Kadıköy neighborhood, where several trade unions had called for a rally on May Day.
Other locations such as the Palace of Justice and the municipal government headquarters have also been cordoned off.
Since Monday, police have staged raids to detain people who called for May Day rallies at Taksim Square, media reports said. Istanbul’s chief prosecutor issued arrest warrants for 108 people.
”Restrictions must be lifted’
Rights group Amnesty International urged Turkey to lift the ban on demonstrations.
“The restrictions on May Day celebrations in Taksim Square are based on entirely spurious security and public order grounds and … must be urgently lifted,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty’s specialist on Europe.
As happens every year, the square has been sealed off with metal barriers, and thousands of police are likely to be deployed to prevent any violations.
Police rounded up 20 people on Wednesday as part of the crackdown, Turgut Delioğlu, head of the DISK union’s media section, told AFP.
He said the union would gather on Thursday in Kadıköy.
Taksim Square was fenced off last month following the arrest and jailing of İmamoğlu. The move sparked the biggest anti-government protests in Turkey since 2013.
İstanbul Governor Davut Gül has said anyone defying the ban on demonstrations at Taksim would be prosecuted.
Amnesty said the ban defied a 2023 ruling by Turkey’s Constitutional Court which found the restriction on May Day rallies in the square violated unions’ rights to freedom of assembly.
© Agence France-Presse