Türkiye: Unlawful and indiscriminate attacks on peaceful protesters must end and protest bans must be lifted immediately

Turkish authorities must end the use of unnecessary and indiscriminate force by security forces against peaceful demonstrators and investigate unlawful acts of violence committed by police against protesters, said Amnesty International, as protests against the detention of Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, intensify.

The call comes following the extension of a blanket protest ban in three cities and as authorities confirm that 1,133 protesters have been detained since protests began on 19 March. It also comes amid reports of injuries, the throttling of social media and the detention of journalists covering the overwhelmingly peaceful protests in dawn raids.

“The use of unnecessary and indiscriminate force by police against peaceful protesters in Türkiye must immediately stop. Amnesty International has reviewed footage of numerous incidents and is urgently reminding Turkish authorities that they must adhere to international human rights law and standards when policing protests,” Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

“Amnesty International reviewed footage showing completely unwarranted police use of force against peaceful demonstrators with people beaten with batons and kicked when they were on the ground. The indiscriminate use of pepper spray, tear gas and water cannon, against peaceful protesters is deeply shocking as is the police use of plastic bullets – sometimes fired at close range at the face and upper body – which have caused numerous injuries and even hospitalizations. These unlawful acts of violence must be investigated promptly and the perpetrators brought to justice.”

The overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations began in Istanbul following the imprisonment of Ekrem İmamoğlu, a key rival and vocal critic of Türkiye’s President Erdoğan. They have spread across much of the country, and have been met with unrelenting force.

Amnesty reminds the Turkish authorities that the use of force by police must be strictly controlled. Tear gas and water cannon, for example, should never be used unless there is widespread and generalized violence against persons that cannot be contained by less harmful measures. Even where some participants engage in isolated acts of violence (i.e. using force that is likely to result in injury or death, or serious damage to property), this does not make the entire protest non-peaceful and can never justify the indiscriminate use of force by the police against all participants.

In a series of dawn raids on 24 March, at least eight journalists who had been reporting on the protests were detained from their homes. Internet users experienced bandwidth reduction that lasted for 42 hours, restricting access to social media and news sites and more than 700 accounts of journalists, activists and opposition figures on Twitter/X have been blocked.

“The throttling of the Internet is a blatant assault on the right to freedom of expression. Authorities should refrain from resorting to such measures. Social media companies, namely X, must take immediate steps to ensure that the accounts of people critical of the Turkish government are restored,” said Agnès Callamard.

“It is crucial that Turkish authorities respect and protect the right to peaceful assembly, immediately lift the blanket protest bans and release all those unjustifiably and arbitrarily detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.”

Background

Journalists detained this morning include Ali Onur Tosun, Bülent Kılıç, Zeynep Kuray, Yasin Akgül, Hayri Tunç, Kurtuluş Arı, Zişan Gür, Murat Kocabaş and Barış İnce.

Following the detention order of Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor to detain more than 100 people, including Ekrem İmamoğlu, two prominent district mayors in Istanbul, on 23 March, 48 people were remanded in pretrial detention. 44 people were released with judicial control measures.

Ekrem İmamoğlu was remanded in pretrial detention under the law on combating criminal organizations for profit as well as on accusations of “bribery, embezzlement, unlawful acquisition of personal data and bid rigging.”