In an overnight operation with hundreds of special police nationwide, Imamoglu was arrested Tuesday – stoking an anger-fueled, politically charged Turkiye. The shocking incident took place only four days after he lost his title as mayor on Sunday. After his arrest, Imamoglu was moved to Silivri Prison, on the outskirts of Istanbul. The jailing sparked Turkiye's most significant street unrest in years, with protests quickly spreading across the country's three largest cities.
The ability to set in motion massive nationwide protests demonstrate how acute political polarization has intensified within Turkiye. In reaction to the growing protests, a state of emergency and banning of demonstrations passed in these cities. A week later, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan followed with a more ominous warning on what he termed “street terror.” Clashes broke out between protestors and police in Istanbul. In Ankara, protestors faced off against water cannons, riot police met protestors with rubber bullets and pepper spray.
The Ministry of Interior announced Imamoglu's suspension from his position as mayor of Turkiye's largest city, further intensifying the political crisis. As the unrest jumped from city to city, the social media turf emerged as another front in the war. The US-based company X (formally Twitter) has suspended more than 700 accounts. This was true across civil society, from news organizations and journalists to political figures and students in Turkiye. These accounts were said to have engaged in organizing the protests.
Though the public outrage was growing, officials at all levels of government stoutly denied any hint of political motivation behind the lawsuits against Imamoglu. They continued to argue that the arrest and later actions were legally justified and procedurally correct.
