Hundreds of thousands take to the streets in Istanbul

Hundreds of thousands of people took part Saturday in a massive rally called by the opposition in Istanbul to protest the arrest of the city's mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, the main rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Özgur Özel, leader of the main opposition CHP party, told media who marched alongside the protesters that there were some 2.2 million people at the rally. This figure could not be officially confirmed.

Imamoglu's arrest on March 19 triggered a wave of protests across the country with tens of thousands of demonstrators every night in the streets.

Since last Monday, marches are no longer called in front of Istanbul city hall, but Özel announced that there will be rallies "every Saturday in a city in Turkey" and on Wednesday nights in Istanbul, in an interview with French daily Le Monde.

Demonstrations have been banned by the authorities, but the CHP leader says he is ready to "take the risk of spending eight, ten years in prison if necessary," he said.

Hundreds of arrests

The CHP, the main opposition force, was to have invested Imamoglu as its candidate for the 2028 presidential election when he was arrested and sent to prison five days later.

The crackdown on protests has led to arrests of protesters, journalists and lawyers, in some cases at their homes in the early hours of the morning.

In Istanbul, 511 students were arrested on Friday and 275 of them jailed, according to lawyer Ferhat Güzel.

According to the latest official data released Thursday, more than 2,000 people have been arrested and at least 260 of them jailed.

Swedish journalist charged with "terrorism"

Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, one of those detained in Istanbul, is charged with "terrorism" and "insulting the president" of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish government said Sunday.

Medin was arrested when he arrived at Istanbul airport on March 27, 2025, and jailed on March 28, the Turkish government's anti-disinformation center specified. The agency said the journalist was "wanted for the crimes of belonging to an armed terrorist organization and insulting the president."

They also justified that "the arrest warrant has nothing to do with journalistic activities," but with an earlier demonstration held in Stockholm in favor of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey.

The reporter is also accused of "facilitating contacts between the PKK organization and the press."

In recent days a BBC journalist was also expelled and at least ten Turkish journalists were detained.