Police batter, detain locals protesting demolition of park in İstanbul's Çekmeköy

Photos: Canan Kaftancıoğlu/Twitter

Click to read the article in Turkish

Residents of the Çekmeköy district on the outskirts of İstanbul's Asian side have been protesting against a project to demolish a park to build a car park and a marketplace for two months.

Police battered and detained several protesters today (August 2), including the women's branch head and other members of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) in the district.

Videos circulating on social media showed a police officer preventing İsmail Arı, a reporter for the daily BirGün, telling him, 'Wait, I'm going to detain you as well."

Çekmeköylüler böyle gözaltına alınıyor. En az 10 gözaltı var. CHP Çekmeköy Kadın Kolları Başkanı, Sendika Org muhabiri, CHP'li meclis üyesi de gözaltına alındı pic.twitter.com/2BdlsQrgYI

— İsmail Arı (@ismailari_) August 2, 2022

Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the head of the CHP İstanbul Organization, said on Twitter that dozers entered the park to uproot the trees without the completion of the legal proceedings.

"There is nothing they wouldn't do for the sake of rent-seeking, but they will stand trial before too long!" she wrote.

There is already a marketplace near the park, she noted.

After the park was zoned for construction in early June, locals started a vigil. Three days later, dozers entered the park.

Kaftancıoğlu visited the park on June 8 to support the protesters.

Vatandaşın nöbet tuttuğu Çekmeköy’deki parka suçluluğun telaşı içinde iş makinalarını sokmuşlar ve yasal süreci beklemeden ağaçları sökecekler!
Pazar yapma bahanesiyle (parkın bitişiği kapalı pazar alanı zaten) rant uğruna yapmadıkları yok ama az kaldı tamamı yargılanacaklar! pic.twitter.com/bwmbFJiiYb

— Canan Kaftancıoğlu (@Canan_Kaftanci) August 2, 2022

(TY/VK)