The demonstrations began in Istanbul after Ekrem Imamogul’s arrest last week and then spread to more than 55 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, causing clashes with riot police and international condemnation, AFP reported.
The popular 53-year-old is widely viewed as the only politician who can defeat Turkish longtime leader Erdogan in the ballot box.
In just four days he was stripped of the mayor as a result of arrest, interrogation, imprisonment and transplant by the mayor of Istanbul, a post that began Erdogan’s political ups decades ago.
On Sunday, he was voted overwhelmingly as the CHP’s leading CHP candidate in the 2028 presidential election in a vote held over the party’s 1.7 million members.
Earlier on Monday, police detained 10 Turkish journalists in their homes, including an AFP photographer.
Most of them said they cover large demonstrations outside city hall. Tens of thousands of people gathered at city hall on Sunday, a move that was criticized by Imamoguru’s wife.
“What’s going on with the media and journalists is a matter of freedom. None of us can remain silent about this,” writes Dilek Kaya Imamoglu in X.
MA/PR