Authorities deployed more than 40,000 police officers across the city after banning protests in Taksim Square.
Police in Istanbul have used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who tried to break through a barricade to reach the city’s Taksim Square in defiance of a ban on May Day rallies. Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 210 people were arrested on Wednesday. More than 40,000 police were deployed across the city, blocking even small side streets with metal barriers after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the eve of May Day that the annual protests would not be allowed to take place in the square.
Tall metal barriers were put up around the square – a traditional focal point of protests in Istanbul, where authorities have banned rallies since 2013, when it was the focus of demonstrations against Erdogan’s government. On X, Yerlikaya said that “210 people were detained in Istanbul after failure to heed our warnings and attempting to walk to the Taksim Square and attack our police officers on May 1 Labour and Solidarity Day.” Police clashed with demonstrators near city hall in the Sarachane district, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to stop protesters from breaching barricades, the AFP news agency reported.. “We have demonstrated our will to celebrate May Day at Taksim Square. We have legal grounds,” Arzu Cerkezoglu, secretary general of the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK), told AFP…Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/
Saturday, May 9, 2026
