Turkey Detains 137 Protesters in Istanbul on May Day
Turkish police said they detained 137 people in
Istanbul on Wednesday for trying to hold illegal demonstrations in various
parts of the city to celebrate May Day.
Turkey declared Taksim square off-limits to May Day
celebrations citing security concerns. Roads leading to the square were blocked
Wednesday and police allowed only small groups of labor union representatives
to lay wreaths at a monument.
Police had cordoned off the area, but small groups
of demonstrators converged there anyway.
"Squares belong to the people, they cannot be
closed off. Long live May 1!" protesters shouted as police hauled them
away, covering their mouths.
Protests for May Day, the international workers'
holiday, are an annual occurrence in Turkey and have in the past been
characterized by police action against demonstrators.
Taksim holds symbolic value for Turkey's labor
movement. In 1977, 34 people were killed there during a May Day event when
shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.
Turkish police regularly prevent the staging of
protests in central Istanbul and elsewhere. Ankara tightened restrictions after
the imposition of emergency rule following an attempted coup in 2016. The state
of emergency was lifted last July.
Earlier on Wednesday, police allowed a ceremony by a
few union leaders to go ahead in Taksim square, and another group laid
carnations on a street nearby.
Authorities only allowed mass celebrations in the
Bakirkoy district, located some distance from the city center.
By 1600 GMT, Istanbul police said they had detained
137 demonstrators in various parts of Istanbul, including the central districts
of Besiktas, Sisli and Beyoglu.
In Besiktas a small group of protesters began
shouting slogans and waving red flags of the leftist People's Liberation Party
(HKP). Television footage showed police scuffling with protesters, rounding
some up and putting them in police vans.
Ozgur Karabulut, general manager of Dev Yapi-Is
Union, said the celebrations were continuing smoothly in Bakirkoy, with
participants from all parts of society.
The Interior Ministry said some 303,000 people had
participated in 138 legal May Day events around Turkey.
