Tens of thousands demand ‘justice’ as opposition rally reaches Istanbul
The rally is by far the biggest by the opposition seen in Istanbul since the mass May-June 2013 demonstrations against Erdogan’s rule sparked by the planned redevelopment of Gezi Park in the city.
Kilicdaroglu began the 25-day trek to protest the arrest of one of his MPs and it rapidly grew into a major march protesting alleged injustice under the state of emergency imposed following last year’s July 15 failed coup.
“Nobody should think this march is the last one. It’s the first step.” Kilicdaroglu told the crowds who roared back with the cry “Justice.”
“Everyone should know very well that July 9 is a new step, a new history ... a new birth,” he added.
Usually, only Erdogan himself can mobilize crowds on this scale with glitzy rallies and the president himself had in the past held mass meetings for supporters in the Maltepe meeting area. The government has dismissed the march as a bothersome stunt while a riled Erdogan has accused Kilicdaroglu of siding with “terrorists” and the July 15 plotters.
But Turkish security forces did nothing to impede the march’s progress and 15,000 police officers were deployed to ensure safety at the rally.
CHP officials told AFP that the numbers at the rally could be as high as over 2 million, but this could not be immediately confirmed.
Supporters have compared the trek of the slightly built, mustachioed 69-year-old with Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi’s famous Salt March of 1930.
The CHP leader reached the outskirts of Istanbul on Friday and was joined by tens of thousands forming a vast file along the road despite blistering heat.
Kilicdaroglu had launched the march from Ankara after his party’s lawmaker Enis Berberoglu, a former journalist, was sentenced to 25 years in jail on charges of leaking classified information to a newspaper.