Turkey: May 1st detainees held at Vatan police
Featured image: Demonstrators opposing the police to march to Taksim on the 1st of May. Source: Yeni Demokrasi
Those 35 people, among them 17 Partizan readers, detained in Istanbul on the 1st of May and those detained in the house raids that followed are to give their statements to the prosecutor’s office at the Çağlayan Courthouse today, after their detention period was extended without any concrete reason yesterday.
Yeni Demokrasi reports that the detained are kept at the narcotics branch of the Vatan police. When the detained protested being held in the same cell with criminals, they were subjected to police violence. Partizan readers agitated for the righteousness of 1st of May, the struggle for taking Taksim square and against police violence in the hospital where they were taken to have a medical check-up, and were attacked by the police in the hospital and while in transport. The police also did not allow detained women to go to the toilet, but gave them a bag and told them to use it instead. Regular medication has not either been given to the detained and their lawyers have been hindered from meeting them.
In Izmir, Partizan and other organizations made a press statement in solidarity with the detained which was read in front of the Türkan Saylan Cultural Center. Slogans “Everywhere is Taksim, Everywhere is Resistance!” , “Police Get Out, These Streets Are Ours!” , “Shoulder to Shoulder Against Fascism” and “May 1st Area – Taksim Square!” were shouted. In the statement, the unlawful extension of the detention and police violence was denounced, as well as the Minister of Internal Affairs Ali Yerlikaya who in his statements has smeared the 1st of May and the protesters and praised the police.
In Adana and Mersin, different organizations demanded the release of the detained and condemned the arbitrary bans, arrests and repression.
