Thirty-eight people who allegedly resisted law enforcement on Wednesday in an attempt to hold a demonstration in İstanbul’s Taksim Square to mark International Workers’ Day despite a government ban have been arrested, Turkish media outlets reported.
The arrestees were among 65 who were detained last week for the same reason. Twenty-seven of the demonstrators were released, 13 under judicial supervision, after they appeared at an İstanbul court on Sunday.
The demonstrators under arrest are accused of violating the law on assemblies and demonstrations, disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization and resisting a public officer.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Sunday that 12 other demonstrators who attempted to march from the Saraçhane neighborhood to Taksim Square, which has symbolic importance for the demonstrators, on May Day by trying to break through the police blockade have also been detained in addition to 29 people detained on Friday.
GEREĞİ YAPILDI – 13 B
1 Mayıs Emek ve Dayanışma Günü’nde İstanbul’da Taksim Meydanına çıkmak için SARAÇHANE Meydanında toplanan, polislerimize taşlı sopalı saldırıda ve fiziki müdahalede bulunan 1️⃣2️⃣ şüpheli de bugün yakalandı.
Böylece Saraçhane’de polislerimize saldıran ve… pic.twitter.com/8Uij72yaFO
— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) May 5, 2024
In his announcement about the detentions on Friday, Yerlikaya said the demonstrators who were taken into custody had attacked the police with rocks and sticks, adding that they were identified based on video recordings and facial recognition technology.
The detainees included members of the Left Party and some socialist groups who wanted to march from Saraçhane to Taksim but faced a heavy police presence and a blockade.
In addition to representatives from major unions such as the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK), the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) and many professional organizations, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and several left-wing and socialist parties called on people to gather in Saraçhane on Wednesday from where a march would be held to Taksim Square to mark International Workers’ Day.
Their decision came in defiance of a ban imposed by the İstanbul Governor’s Office, which allowed May Day demonstrations only in other venues across the city. However, labor unions and a number of political parties said Taksim has symbolic importance for May Day and that the government ban contravenes a Constitutional Court decision last year that found violations of the right to free assembly in the controversial ban.
The march to Taksim was cancelled by the CHP and some labor unions due to the police blockade, leading to criticism from various political parties and activists and leaving other demonstrators in the area disappointed.
Skirmishes erupted when a group of demonstrators wanted to march to Taksim Square, leading to the detention of 217 of them on that day, according to another statement from Yerlikaya.
Among them, 182 have been released, while 35 had been referred to court as of Friday and subsequently appeared before a court on Sunday.
İstanbul Governor Davut Gül attracted criticism when he tweeted about the detention of more than 200 people in İstanbul on May Day, saying: “No crime is left without punishment. 210 people have been detained. The state may postpone it [punishing a crime], but it never leaves it unpunished.”
The criticism of Gül stemmed from his decision to treat May Day demonstrators who wanted to exercise a democratic right as criminals.
The symbolic importance of Taksim Square stems from the killing of 34 people by unknown assailants on May Day in 1977. The area has become a subject of tension and confrontation between the government and labor unions in the days leading up to May Day since 2013.
Until 2009, Taksim was off limits to demonstrators following Bloody May Day in 1977. About three decades after the incident, under tight security, Taksim Square became the venue of peaceful demonstrations aside from a few minor incidents in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The area was closed to demonstrations again in 2013 out of security concerns.