Newly emerged video footage shows the moment a Turkish police chief orders his subordinates to use guns against Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members who have taken to the streets in İstanbul to protest the arrest of Kurdish politicians.
The 11-second video, viewed hundreds of times on YouTube and Twitter, shows a police chief ordering other officers to show protestors no mercy, saying; “Don’t hesitate to use guns, if necessary, shoot.”
After several HDP deputies were rounded up in the early hours of Friday, nine Kurdish lawmakers including the two co-chairs of the party were arrested on Friday afternoon.
The Doğan news agency has reported that HDP Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ have been taken to Kandıra Prison in Kocaeli, where the previously arrested co-mayors of Diyarbakir Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı are currently being held.