Turkey’s protests over Istanbul mayor grow into ‘fight about democracy’

Anger over detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu becomes a touchstone for opposing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

When demonstrators gathered at Istanbul’s city hall last week in outrage at the arrest of mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, 26-year-old Azra said she was initially too scared to defy a ban on gatherings. As protests grew on university campuses and in cities and towns across Turkey, she could no longer resist joining.

“I saw the spark in people’s eyes and the excitement on their faces, and I decided I had to come down here,” she said with a grin, standing among tens of thousands that defied a ban on assembly to fill the streets around city hall on Friday night. Despite the crowds, Azra feared reprisals and declined to give her full name. Many demonstrators were masked in a bid to defy facial recognition technology and fearing the teargas or pepper spray sometimes deployed by the police. Others smiled and took selfies to celebrate as fireworks illuminated the night sky.

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