'Living in dictatorship': Istanbul mayor's arrest sparks anger

'Living in dictatorship': Istanbul mayor's arrest sparks anger

The detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu brought hundreds of protesters onto the street despite a heavy police presence and a ban on protests

"We're living in a dictatorship," said Kuzey, an Istanbul shopkeeper after police detained the city's popular opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption allegations. 

The early morning detention of Imamoglu on graft charges was purely political, Kuzey said as he opened his shop near Taksim Square.

The move came days before Imamoglu, the main political rival of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was formally named the opposition candidate for the 2028 race. 

"Whenever this guy and his dirty team see someone strong, they panic and do something illegal to him," said this 40-something dressed in jeans and a black top, referring to Erdogan and the AKP who have been in power since 2003. 

"But we Turks are a strong people, we're used to fighting these things," he said as large numbers of police headed for Taksim Square which was fenced off with metal barricades.

Four riot-control trucks were in place, all armed with water canon, to prevent any protest at the huge square which was the epicentre of huge demonstrations against Erdogan in 2013, when he was prime minister. 

Many people were reluctant to comment on the fast-moving events, and those that did, refused to give more than their first name.

"This is very bad and I don't know what will happen next. You never know what they'll do," said a passerby called Mustafa. "I'm angry but what can we do?"

In another nearby street, a pensioner in a grey beret also expressed dismay over the detention of Imamoglu and more than 100 of his associates, many of them members of the main opposition CHP. 

"I am sad for my country, it shouldn't be like this," he told AFP, refusing to give his name. 

- 'Coups used to be by soldiers' -

In front of the police headquarters where the mayor was taken, several hundred people gathered to protest near the police barriers, shouting: "Imamoglu, you're not alone!"

"Government, resign!" they yelled. 

"One day, the AKP will have to give an accounting to the people." 

On Istiklal, the main pedestrianised shopping artery, there was turmoil at currency exhange offices that serve millions of tourists every year, with news of the arrest sending the Turkish lira to historic lows against the dollar and the euro. 

In front of one of them, 63-year-old Hasan Yildiz was wide-eyed about the arrest, agreeing it was little more than a "coup" against the opposition. 

The move came just days before the CHP was to have formally named Imamoglu their candidate for the 2028 presidential election. 

"In the past, it was the soldiers who carried out coups. Today it's the politicians," Yildiz said, indifferent to the police car parked nearby. 

"Foreign investors are not going to invest in Turkey any more. Who would want to invest in a country without justice or rule of law?" he wondered. 

- 'Prices will go up' -

Another bypasser called Emre, who works nearby, said the upheaval would mean more economic pain for regular people.

"I'm not surprised by anything any more. The exchange rate will soon be 50 liras to the euro," he told AFP of a rate which soared a historic high of 42 liras to the euro after his arrest. 

"And it will be reflected in the cost bread and the cost of everything. All because of the unjust actions of one man," he said. 

"I am furious," admitted Zeynep Kara, 68, saying the reason for Imamoglu's arrest was "obvious" -- to stop him from running -- with the charges of corruption a mere "pretext" to justify it. 

"The situation is not going to get any better," she said. 

rba/bur/hmw/jm

Originally published as 'Living in dictatorship': Istanbul mayor's arrest sparks anger