Police Attack ‘Democracy Watch’ in İstanbul, HDP MP Kemal Bülbül Hospitalized

* Photograph: Mezopotamya Agency

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Led by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in protest against the appointment of trustees to the Metropolitan Municipalities of Mardin, Diyaarbakır and Van, "Democracy Watch" in the district of Esenyurt in İstanbul has been intervened by the police.

Taking 10 people into custody at the City Square in Esenyurt yesterday (September 29), police officers also battered the MPs.

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), HDP MP Kemal Bülbül fainted in the ensuing commotion between the police officers and the ones attending the watch. Bülbül has been taken to the hospital.

Plastic bullets and gas

Yesterday's watch in İstanbul was attended by HDP İstanbul Co-Chair Cengiz Çiçek, HDP MPs Murat Çepni, Saruhan Oluç, Kemal Bülbül, Ömer Öcalan and Necdet İpekyüz as well as main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Ali Şeker and labor and professional organizations.

While the square was blockaded by warders and police officers during the watch, people were prevented from entering or leaving the square. Afterwards, the police attacked the group with plastic bullets and gas bombs.

While several people were wounded during the intervention, the group dispersed into side streets and held a march with ululations.

HDP: We will not stay silent

HDP İstanbul Provincial Organization has released a written statement about the police attack and stated the following:

"We want you to know that we will not stay silent to the usurpation of will imposed on our peoples by trustees. #Trustees, who are the product of a tyrannical and disregarding mentality will go.

"Our peoples, the major elements of this country, will continue adopting an attitude in favor of the law. No tyrannical method will throw us off our track. Our essentially democratic actions will continue." (TP/SD)