Turkey: Police arrest 130+ protesting on occasion of Labor Day
Police in Istanbul have arrested dozens attempting to organize a Labor Day protest in Taksim square.
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Protestors in Taksim being stopped by police officers as they were defying a ban on May Day celebrations, May 1, 2022
Turkish riot police arrested a large number of protestors taking part in Workers' Day (May Day) demonstrations against economic hardship.
May Day celebrations were allowed by the office of Istanbul's governor in another district and said gatherings in all other locations were unauthorized and illegal.
30 people were also detained in the district of central Besiktas and 22 others in the district of Sisli, according to the Demiroren news agency.
Yürüyüşümüz başlıyor #1Mayıs https://t.co/uy3uR9snx6
— Türkiye İşçi Partisi - İstanbul (@TipIstanbul) May 1, 2022
The Istanbul governor's office reported on Sunday that 164 protestors were detained in the city for attempting to "hold illegal demonstrations."
Marches are held every year in Turkey on May 1 as part of International Labor Day celebrations.
The annual inflation rate in Turkey may rise to 68% in April, influenced by rising commodity prices and the war in Ukraine. The rise in inflation was mentioned in the Labor Day statements released by several groups.
Dostlarımızı geri alacağız, tekrar özgür olacaklar!#1Mayıs#PartinleYürü pic.twitter.com/duDuhJp2Gg
— Türkiye İşçi Partisi - İstanbul (@TipIstanbul) May 1, 2022
Following several reductions in the country's interest rate throughout the past year, the Turkish lira went into free fall, gravely affecting the country's financial system. The national currency lost over 50% of its value to the dollar, reaching a low of 18.4 per dollar in December of last year in parallel to its rate of 7.4 per dollar about a year earlier.
The Turkish Central Bank tried to mitigate the issue by reducing the policy rate by 100 basis points from 15% to 14%.
More than 5000 people protested in mid-December in Istanbul against the lira's devaluation and the decrease in the purchasing power, calling for the government's resignation.
