Turkish authorities have detained nine journalists who were covering overnight protests in several cities against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the Turkish Journalists’ Union said on Monday.
It was not immediately clear why the journalists were detained.
A Turkish court on Sunday jailed Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu, a key political rival of President Tayyip Erdogan, on a corruption trial, in a move that sparked the country’s biggest protests in more than a decade.
Despite bans on street gatherings in many cities, largely peaceful anti-government protests took place for a fifth consecutive night on Sunday.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is calling for protests against the court’s decision on Imamoglu, which it calls politicized and undemocratic.
The government denies the investigations are politically motivated and says the courts are independent.
Imamoglu has dismissed the charges against him as “unimaginable accusations and slander” and has called for nationwide protests.
Addressing protesters in the Saracane district of Istanbul outside the city hall, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said on Sunday that they would continue the protests until Imamoglu was released.
An Agence France Presse (AFP) photojournalist is among the detained journalists, the journalists’ union said in a statement posted on the social media platform X.
