Several detained in Beşiktaş and Okmeydani
İSTANBUL (DİHA) - Turkish police surrounded Taksim Square in Istanbul, where the government has forbidden May 1 celebrations.
The total police blockade extends to all roads leading into the hilltop neighborhood as far as the neighborhoods of Beşiktaş and Şişli, each several kilometers away.
Meanwhile, as workers and labourers are underway throughout Istanbul to mark May Day, Turkish police took extraordinary measures to prevent them.
Police detained two women at Taksim Square when they attempted to unfurl a banner.
Again, police detained five people in the Okmeydanı neighborhood after gas masks and marbles were found on them during a search.
A university student was detained in the Beşiktaş neighborhood for carrying a gas mask in his bag. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Süleyman Çelebi intervened, after which the police released him.
(nt)
