THE leader of Turkey’s main opposition renewed a call on supporters yesterday to take to the streets for peaceful demonstrations against the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor and top rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

This came even as authorities widened a ban on protests and criticised the call as irresponsible.

Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested in a dawn raid on his residence on Wednesday over alleged corruption and terror links, escalating a crackdown on opposition figures and dissenting voices. 

Several other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and key challenger to President Erdogan from the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028. 

Government officials reject claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that the courts operate independently.

Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media outlets reported that police began questioning Mr Imamoglu yesterday afternoon. 

Since Mayor Imamoglu’s arrest, thousands of people have gathered at Istanbul’s city hall for night-time rallies and clashes have erupted between demonstrators and police in Istanbul, the capital, Ankara, and Turkey’s third largest city, Izmir.

The most violent clash took place at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University late on Thursday, when police deployed tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstration and students claimed rubber bullets were used. 

The interior ministry said that more than 50 people were detained and 16 police officers were injured following the protests.

On Friday, authorities in Ankara and Izmir announced a five-day prohibition on demonstrations, following a similar ban imposed earlier by the Istanbul governor’s office. 

The bans came after the country’s justice minister said that street protests amid ongoing judicial investigations were unacceptable.

Still, Ozgur Ozel, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party, said: “I invite tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions to peacefully demonstrate, express our democratic reaction, and exercise our constitutional rights.”