“Police in Mersin knowingly commit constitutional crimes,” said Perihan Koca, a Mersin MP from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, condemning police attacks during a protest in the Akdeniz district of Mersin, southern Turkey, on Monday.
Hundreds gathered outside the DEM Party’s district office to denounce the arrests of Akdeniz Co-Mayors Hoşyar Sarıyıldız and Nuriye Arslan, along with council members Özgür Çağlar, Neslihan Oruç, and Hikmet Bakırhan, following the appointment of a government trustee to the municipality. Protesters were met with a heavy police presence that blocked their attempt to visit local businesses.
When demonstrators resisted the blockade, police responded with force, detaining at least five people and injuring many, including journalist Fatoş Sarıkaya, who was reportedly beaten. Protesters chanted, “Repression will not intimidate us” and pushed back the blockade.
The confrontation escalated as protesters lit fires and used fireworks in Yenipazar’s backstreets. Amid the unrest, Koca criticised the police, accusing them of acting unlawfully under orders: “Even visiting shopkeepers is prohibited. This is palace terror.”
Eventually, demonstrators broke the police cordon and held a gathering outside the district office. They called for mass participation in a rally planned for Tuesday in front of the municipality, to be attended by Democratic Regions Party Co-Chair Keskin Bayındır.
Protests spread to other areas, with young activists in Yenipazar throwing Molotov cocktails at police and singing resistance songs late into the night.
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