site.btaNearly 160,000 People Participate in Another Protest in Istanbul in Support of Arrested Mayor Imamoglu

Nearly 160 000 people participated in another protest in support of the arrested Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu in the city on Wednesday evening. This was the fourth consecutive rally of the protests that Turkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) announced it would organize every Wednesday in a different municipality of the megalopolis.

The latest protest was held on Beyazid Square, where Istanbul University, Turkiye's largest and oldest higher education institution, is located. A decision by the University's management of March 18 annulled Imamoglu's diploma, following his detention on corruption charges. According to Turkish media reports, documents related to the diploma were removed from the official website of the institution, and Imamoglu was listed under secondary education.

The rally was organised against the cancellation of Imamoglu's higher education degree under the slogan "Take your diploma and come". Many citizens, students and young people participated in the event, Mediacorp reported. The protest was held under a strong police blockade. Media close to the opposition reported that the authorities turned off the street lights to prevent people from gathering. The rally took place under the torchlight of tens of thousands of mobile phones.

The participants in the rally were informed that a message had been received about a possible bomb attack during the protest, but the alert later turned out to be false, the media added.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said that about 160,000 people attended the rally and that 14,800,000 signatures have been collected on the petition demanding the immediate release of Imamoglu and the holding of early elections before those planned for 2028. Ozel also said that opposition rallies will continue without interruption in Istanbul and the countryside.

Imamoglu was detained on March 19. On March 23, the court kept him in jail pending his trial on corruption charges at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality which led to his temporary removal from office. On the same day, the Republican People's Party nominated Imamoglu as their presidential candidate for the upcoming elections, which are scheduled to take place in 2028. The arrest of Istanbul's Mayor has led to mass protests in major cities in Turkiye, which resulted in clashes with the police and hundreds of people being detained.