ISTANBUL: Thousands of students chanting angry slogans hit the streets of Istanbul on Tuesday as a court jailed an AFP journalist and six others for covering the biggest protests to hit Turkiye in over a decade.

The demonstrations erupted after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, in a crackdown that has seen more than 1,400 people arrested, including 11 Turkish journalists.

Seven of them were remanded in custody by an Istanbul court on Tuesday, among them photographer Yasin Akgul, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Paris-based news agency.

“His imprisonment is unacceptable. This is why I am asking you to intervene as quickly as possible to obtain the rapid release of our journalist,” the agency’s CEO and chairman Fabrice Fries said in a letter to the Turkish presidency. The court charged Akgul, 35, and the others with “taking part in illegal rallies and marches”, though Fries said Akgul was “not part of the protest” but only covering it as a journalist.

Media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced the decision as “scandalous”, with its Turkiye representative Erol Onderoglu saying it “reflects a very serious situation in Turkiye”.

Vast crowds have defied a protest ban to hit the streets daily since the March 19 move against Istanbul’s opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, with the unrest spreading across Turkiye and prompting nightly clashes with security forces.

On Tuesday, thousands of students marched through the upmarket Nisantasi district, chanting “Government, resign!” and waving flags and banners, watched by a large deployment of riot police. Many had their faces covered with scarves or masks, and acknowledged they feared being identified by the police.

“We can’t express ourselves freely,” a student who gave her name as Nisa said, saying she nonetheless joined the protest “to defend democracy”. With riot police using water cannon, pepper spray and rubber bullets against protesters, the Council of Europe denounced the “disproportionate” use of force.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2025