Turkish authorities have detained nine journalists who covered overnight protests against the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the Journalists Union of Turkey (Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikası) said, according to Reuters. A Turkish court on Sunday jailed İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, pending trial on corruption charges, a move that triggered the country’s biggest protests in more than a decade.

Despite bans on street gatherings in many cities, mostly peaceful anti-government demonstrations were held for a fifth night in a row. It was not immediately clear why the journalists were detained. A post on the union’s Facebook page listed the names of the journalists it said had been detained in dawn raids in Istanbul and Izmir.

İmamoğlu was officially nominated as a presidential candidate by the opposition CHP party for the 2028 elections on Monday.

Last night, tens of thousands of demonstrators massed near Istanbul’s city hall for a fifth straight evening, angry at the decision to officially arrest İmamoğlu, and faced police who pepper-sprayed crowds and fired teargas. In İzmir, video showed police attempting to disperse protests using armored water cannon trucks. The mayor’s imprisonment is viewed as a political move to remove a major challenger to Erdoğan from the next presidential race.

İmamoğlu was jailed on suspicion of running a criminal organization, accepting bribes, extortion, unlawfully recording personal data, and bid-rigging—accusations he denies. A request for him to be imprisoned on terror-related charges was rejected, although he still faces prosecution.

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/mar/24/turkey-protests-istanbul-erdogan-imamoglu-greenland-germanwings-europe-news-live