On Friday, Turkish police deployed tear gas and detained hundreds of participants in May Day demonstrations across Istanbul, as thousands took to the streets in a country grappling with soaring inflation. The CHD Lawyers Association reported that close to 400 individuals were arrested in Istanbul alone, where riot-control vehicles sprayed tear gas into crowds.
Images broadcast on the opposition channel HALK TV showed Erkan Baş, leader of the Turkish Workers’ Party, engulfed in pepper spray. "Those in power already speak 365 days a year, so let workers talk about the hardships they face at least one day a year," Baş said.
Authorities had sealed off Taksim Square overnight—a historic site of anti-government protests—and two groups on the city's European side were specifically targeted after signaling their intent to march there. Union official Başaran Aksu was arrested just after denouncing the lockdown. "You can't close off a square to the workers of Turkey. Everyone uses Taksim, for official ceremonies, for celebrations. Only the labourers, the workers, the poor find the square closed to them," he said.
Heavy Police Presence and Violence
May Day rallies in Turkey annually draw major police deployments, with a large area in central Istanbul cordoned off. Last year, protests shifted to the Kadıköy district, resulting in over 400 arrests. This year, metal barricades and a heavy police presence choked access to central neighbourhoods. In the Mecidiyeköy district, officers used tear gas on a crowd that included members of the Marxist-Leninist People’s Liberation Party (HKP), who chanted "USA murderer, AKP accomplice." Police encircling the Beşiktaş neighbourhood intervened, sometimes violently, whenever demonstrators raised chants, with eyewitnesses reporting several protesters thrown to the ground.
Unions and civil society groups had called for the demonstrations under the slogan "Bread. Peace. Freedom." Turkey's official inflation rate stands at 30%, but independent estimates place it closer to 40%.
In the capital Ankara, about 100 coal miners who had staged a nine-day hunger strike to demand unpaid wages were cheered as they joined a notably large and youthful May Day march, monitored by a significant police presence. This incident echoes earlier labour unrest in Turkey, as seen in the detention of coal miners in Ankara over wage disputes.
Earlier this week, Turkish authorities issued arrest and search warrants against 62 people, deeming 46 of them—including journalists, trade unionists, and opposition figures—as "likely to carry out attacks." The crackdown comes amid broader security concerns in Turkey, including arrests of suspected Islamic State members and ongoing trials such as the case over insecticide deaths of a Turkish-German family.
