Istanbul: Protesters were to join a mass rally in Istanbul Saturday at the call of Turkiye鈥檚 main opposition CHP over the jailing of the city鈥檚 mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a top figure in the party whose arrest has sparked 10 days of the country鈥檚 biggest street demonstrations in a decade.
Imamoglu鈥檚 detention on March 19 has also prompted a repressive government response that has been sharply condemned by rights groups and drawn criticism from abroad.
The rally, which begins at 0900 GMT in Maltepe on the Asian side of Istanbul, is the first such CHP-led gathering since Tuesday and comes on the eve of the Eid Al-Fitr celebration marking the end of Ramadan, which starts Sunday.
Widely seen as the only Turkish politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box, Imamoglu was elected as the CHP鈥檚 candidate for the 2028 presidential race on the day he was jailed.
鈥淚mamoglu鈥檚 candidacy for president is the beginning of a journey that will guarantee justice and the nation鈥檚 sovereignty. Let鈥檚 go to Maltepe.. and start our march to power together!鈥� CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said on X.
The protests over his arrest quickly spread across Turkiye, with vast crowds joining mass nightly rallies outside Istanbul City Hall called by the CHP, that often degenerated into running battles with riot police.
Although the last such rally was Tuesday, student groups have kept up their own protests, most of them masked despite a police crackdown that has seen nearly 2,000 people arrested.
Among them were 20 minors who were arrested between March 22-25, of whom seven remained in custody, the Istanbul Bar Association said Friday.
In Istanbul, at least 511 students were detained, many in predawn raids, of whom 275 were jailed, lawyer Ferhat Guzel told AFP, while admitting that the number was 鈥減robably much higher.鈥�
The authorities have also cracked down on media coverage, arresting 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deporting a BBC correspondent and arresting a Swedish reporter who flew into Istanbul to cover the unrest.
Although 11 journalists were freed Thursday, among them AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, two more were detained on Friday as was Imamoglu鈥檚 lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan, who was later granted conditional release.
Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who flew into Turkiye on Thursday to cover the demonstrations, was jailed on Friday, his employer Dagens ETC told AFP, saying it was not immediately clear what the charges were.
鈥橝ccusations 100 percent false鈥�
Unconfirmed reports in the Turkish media said Medin was being held for 鈥渋nsulting the president鈥� and belonging to a 鈥渢error organization.鈥�
鈥淚 know that these accusations are false, 100 percent false,鈥� Dagens ETC鈥檚 editor-in-chief Andreas Gustavsson wrote on X account.
In a post on social media, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said Stockholm was taking his arrest 鈥渟eriously.鈥�
Turkish authorities held BBC journalist Mark Lowen for 17 hours on Wednesday before deporting him on the grounds he posed 鈥渁 threat to public order,鈥� the broadcaster said.
Turkiye鈥檚 communications directorate put his deportation down to 鈥渁 lack of accreditation.鈥�
Baris Altintas, co-director of MLSA, the legal NGO helping many of the detainees, told AFP the authorities 鈥渟eem to be very determined on limiting coverage of the protests.
鈥淎s such, we fear that the crackdown on the press will not only continue but also increase.鈥�