Turkey police clashed with protesters of May in Istanbul on Thursday (1st). The confusion included people being dragged and shots of tear gas pumps.
Turkish Interior Minister Yerlikaya said police detained 409 people in total, including 407 in Istanbul. The politician also stated that a total of 286,584 people participated in the protests, held in 78 provinces.
Unions and NGOs summoned marches throughout Istanbul. After President Tayyip Erdogan, Ekrem Imamoglu.
This Thursday (1st), protesters tried to march toward Taksim Square, in the city center, where all protests have been banned for years.
Police clashed with people who tried to break the barricades.
Protesters held posters and shouting slogans as the police were being forcibly detained to the buses waiting for them.
Ozgur Ozel, the leader of the main opposition party, the People’s Republican Party (CHP), said the ban on demonstrations and marches in Taksim Square demonstrates “the insecurity and lack of confidence of the party in power.”
“Arriving a square with thousands of police shows that those who lead the country have no real authority and have turned the state into a police state,” Ozel told Reporters.
Confusion Brand Date every year
Protests are held every year in Türkiye for International Labor Day, but police have frequently intervened in recent years.
Last year, police detained more than 200 people trying to march to Taksim Square. In 1977, 34 people were killed during labor day demonstrations in the square.
In Ancara, Erdogan received representatives of unions and various professional areas to celebrate May 1st. He said his government over the years has suspended some restrictions imposed on workers and implemented several legal amendments to improve working conditions.
Thousands of people gathered in Ankara for marches and largely peaceful demonstrations, while demonstrations were also held in other cities.
