Scores of arrests hit May Day celebrations in Turkey

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey’s largest city Istanbul was on high alert on Tuesday as opposition parties, and workers’ unions flocked to the streets to celebrate Labor Day while police arrested at least 84 people.

A majority of the celebrants were taken into custody in the Besiktas district after they attempted to challenge a ban by marching toward the Taksim Square, Kurdistan 24’s Turkey bureau reported.

Over the decades, the square has become a symbol of open defiance to authorities due to Gezi Park protests five years ago against the government and a massacre by the Turkish Counter-Guerrilla that killed 36 people in 1977 May Day.

Violent scuffles occurred between riot police who used tear gas and unionists elsewhere in Sisli, Beyoglu, and Maltepe districts.

At least 26,000 officers were on duty across the streets of Istanbul, the state media wrote.

Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), and labor organizations along with thousands of people gathered in Maltepe where worker leaders and lawmakers made speeches.

In the de facto Kurdish capital of Diyarbakir, a rally led by Kurdish parties, including the HDP and Kurdistan Socialist Party (PSK), went ahead peacefully with security forces taking tight measures.

Members of Turkey Journalists’ Syndicate shouted slogans demanding liberty for over 150 media workers behind bars in Turkish jails.

During a speech there, HDP’s Co-leader Sezai Temelli attacked an ongoing nation-wide state of emergency imposed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration.

“It is time to say stop to this regime. If we do not say it now, what comes next is martial law and dictatorship,” Temelli said as voters prepare to go to the ballot box in June snap presidential and general elections announced by Erdogan.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany