A total of 172 protesters have been remanded in custody by Turkish judicial authorities, while over 19 arrests have been made in Turkey since March 1400. The leader of the main opposition CHP party, Özgür Özel, addressing protesters who gathered for the 7th night in front of Istanbul City Hall last night, said that the prisons are full.
Yesterday, despite the ban, mass demonstrations took place in two parts of Istanbul as well as in Ankara and Izmir. In Istanbul, a protest was held for the 7th day in front of the Istanbul Municipality, however, yesterday for the first time, the youth of the Sisli Municipality, whose Mayor was also remanded in custody on March 19 and an administrator has been appointed in his place, also mobilized.
Thousands of students gathered yesterday afternoon in Macca Park, just half a kilometer from Taksim Square, and marched in Sisli, chanting slogans such as "Government resign." Heavy police forces were deployed around Taksim Square to prevent students from marching towards Taksim, which is considered a symbol of protests.
However, the leader of the main opposition gave the message that the protests will not stop and announced that they are now being moved from Istanbul City Hall to the municipality of Maltepe, where his party's most massive election rallies usually take place. He announced a rally in Maltepe next Saturday at 12 noon.
Analysts estimate that the rally will turn into a pre-election rally and that the CHP's goal now will be to pressure the government into early elections as soon as possible.
The leader of the main opposition stressed that the CHP's main goal in the next period is to force the government to hold early elections, usually for November 2025: "We say to Mr. Tayyip: These five years have already been controversial. There are two and a half left. Come on, let's renew the elections. Whoever the people want, let them stay," he said.
Today, elections will be held in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for the election of a temporary mayor. The CHP group, which is the majority in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Assembly, agreed with Nuri Aslanya for this position. Nuri Aslan has been serving as the Deputy Mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality since March 20. There are currently 314 members in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council. 185 of these members are from the CHP, 120 from the ruling AKP party, 7 from Devlet Bahçeli's MHP party and 2 from the nationalist BBP party.
Source: KYPE
