Turkey: dozens of arrests on the sidelines of May Day celebrations in Taksim Square

This Sunday, May 1, 164 people were apprehended by the police services in Istanbul for "prohibited assembly and refusal to disperse", near Taksim Square AFP - BULENT KILIC

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This Sunday, May 1, 164 people were arrested by the police in Istanbul for "prohibited assembly and refusal to disperse", near Taksim Square.

Located in the center of Istanbul, the square was the scene of anti-government mobilizations in 2013. Each year, it is the subject of a showdown for its reconquest between power and its opponents.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul

,

It is on the Asian side of Istanbul that the local authorities had authorized the celebrations, but it is indeed on Taksim Square, that several organizations have invited to gather, on this May Day.

Experienced in exercise, the riot police had barricaded the square the day before, not without letting the thousands of football fans celebrate their victory.

Taksim Square recalls the bloody demonstrations of May 1, 1977 during which at least 34 demonstrators were killed and a hundred injured by gunfire attributed to an extreme right-wing militia.

The country was then going through a wave of political violence.

But this place has above all become the emblem of the protest which had spread in a few weeks to the whole country in 2013. Initially motivated by the defense of the adjacent park of Gezi, promised to be demolished, the protests had won the whole country , catalysing the frustrations and claims against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Prime Minister.

Prevent any protest ahead of the 2023 elections

Taksim Square is therefore symbolically charged and the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has banned all political gatherings there in recent years.

The hundred arrests come a few days after the conviction of the patron

to life imprisonment and eighteen years' imprisonment for seven co-defendants.

They were found guilty of " 

 " during the 2013 uprisings. Osman Kavala referred to a " 

 ".

These sentences, which surprised lawyers and observers by their severity, were perceived by civil society as a message aimed at preventing any protests in the country between now

scheduled for June 2023. These elections are a only perspective for a civil society worn down by the authoritarianism of its government.

(with AFP)

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• Turkey

• Recep Tayyip Erdogan