Protesters flooded Istanbul's streets, heeding the call of Turkey's main opposition CHP party. The mass protests, ongoing since top CHP figure Imamoglu's arrest, are among the biggest against Erdogan.

Demonstrators flooded Istanbul's streets, heeding the call of Turkey's main opposition CHP party. The mass protests, ongoing since top CHP figure Ekrem Imamoglu's arrest, are among the biggest against Erdogan.

People wave flags of Turkey atop a garbage truck during a rally called by the Republican People's Party (CHP) in support of Istanbul's arrested mayor Ekrem Imanoglu in Maltepe, on the outskirts of Istanbul on March 29, 2025 (Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP)

Thousands of people gathered outside Istanbul’s city hall for a second consecutive night to rally against the arrest of the city’s popular mayor.

The arrest of a major opposition figure in Turkey has provoked major protests over President Erdogan’s increasing authoritarianism, reports On March 19, 2025, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was arrested on corruption charges,

Detention of mayor Ekrem Imamoglu follows fall in popularity of Turkey’s president due to the country’s economic and financial crisis

The detention of Ekrem Imamoglu was viewed by many as a politically driven attempt to eliminate a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Taksim Square, Istanbul’s biggest tourist site and hub of political protest, has lain empty, cordoned off by police since the March 19 detention of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival Ekrem Imamoglu,