POLICE VIOLENCE

Protests are staged in Ankara, Istanbul, İzmir and Antalya, after HDP MPs have been detained. The security forces attacked the protesters.

Police violence once again arrives on the silver screen with the documentary ‘Article 16: Right to Life’. Co-director Yılmaz Kılıç says, “We did not shoot this documentary, it’s all the work of the police. All we did was to transmit their work.”

The Lawyers for Justice group has prepared a preliminary report on the rights violations that took place on May 1, Workers’ Day. The report states that 452 people were detained, that the duration of arbitrary detention had been extended, and that lawyers were prevented from receiving information regarding detentions. Rights’ violations continued in May 4 as the lawyers that gathered at the Çağlayan Court House to make a statement on May 1 along with unions, associations and mass organizations were met with brutal police intervention.

Workers’ Day celebrations in Istanbul were once again met with extreme security measures and brutal police intervention targeting organizations, groups and the public wanting to exercise their right to demonstrate. Taksim Square, Beşiktaş and main roads leading to the area were sealed off as 20 thousand police officers were placed on duty.

The ‘Internal Security Package’ to be discussed in Parliament next week has once again opened the debate on the boundaries of authority to be transferred to law enforcement. Departing from the security package that has become the focus of criticism, we have examined what the new regulations bring, the path followed by such regulations aiming to protect the ‘continuity of the State’ and the background of the criticized stance of the police force.