Amnesty International is urging Turkish authorities to carry out prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into the allegations of human rights violations, including torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement officials during and in the aftermath of the mass, largely peaceful protests between March 19 and 26, 2025.
Tens of thousands of people participated in overwhelmingly peaceful mass rallies and protests across Türkiye in response to the detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mayor of Istanbul and Presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples’ Republican Party (CHP), and 91 others working at and connected with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality on March 19, 2025. İmamoğlu and 53 others were remanded in pretrial detention on March 23. These protests took place in the context of official rallies organized by the CHP. Several governorates, including Istanbul, İzmir, Ankara and Manisa, issued pre-emptive bans on all assemblies, and in the case of Istanbul, restricted entry into and exit from the province when the ban was extended for another four days on March 23 after the initial four-day ban. In Istanbul, the bans were not initially enforced against tens of thousands of people who were at first able to gather for CHP rallies outside the Greater Istanbul Municipality in Saraçhane Square, but law enforcement officers intervened once the official rallies ended.
Amnesty International documented several instances of unlawful use of force by law enforcement officials against peaceful demonstrators between March 19 and 26, including beating, kicking and dragging protesters on the ground and the unlawful use of water cannon, pepper spray, tear gas, kinetic impact projectiles, often at close range directly targeting individuals at the head and upper body that led to numerous injuries and even hospitalizations. All the information collected was assessed in accordance with international standards and the pertinent legal obligations the Turkish state has under the treaties it is a party to.
The collected evidence indicates that law enforcement officials attacked peaceful protesters who were either dispersing or not resisting. Individuals who were already restrained were also sometimes beaten by law enforcement officials with batons – and in several instances, kicked while on the ground or dragged along the street.
Read “Türkiye: “I Cannot Breathe” – Allegations of Torture and Other Ill-Treatment in the Context of Mass Protests Between March 19 and 26 Must Be Investigated.”