İSTANBUL - In Istanbul, eleven activists of the Labour Movement Party (EHP) were arrested during the reading of a press release marking 1 May.

 

Istanbul police arrested eleven members of the Labour Movement Party (Emekçi Hareket Partisi, EHP) while reading a press statement on the International Workers’ Day. Among those arrested is the party spokeswoman Özge Akman. The police justified the arrest of the activists by saying that no permission had been obtained from the governor's office for the public press release. However, this regulation excludes political parties according to the law.

 

The meeting of EHP members in the district of Şişli had begun with a minute's silence for the victims of the police attack on the Istanbul 1 May demonstration in 1977. Afterwards, the activists chanted the slogan "Long live May Day". Immediately afterwards, the police assault took place. Some of the officers generously violated the rules of Coronavirus emergency and did not wear face masks or gloves.