Istanbul - Saba:
Protests have continued in Turkey, with authorities arresting more than 1,400 demonstrators since the start of a widespread movement a week ago to denounce the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a prominent opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Tens of thousands of people gathered for the seventh consecutive night in front of the Istanbul City Council at the call of the opposition.
Yesterday evening, Tuesday, the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), the main force in the Turkish opposition, called for a mass demonstration in Istanbul on Saturday in support of the city's imprisoned mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu.
Ozgur Özel addressed the crowd gathered in front of the Istanbul Municipality building, saying, "Will you participate in the large demonstration on Saturday to support Ekrem İmamoğlu, oppose his arrest, and say we want early elections?"
Thousands of students, most of them masked for fear of being identified by police, marched Tuesday evening to applause from local residents in an area on the European side of the city, whose mayor was also jailed.
Turkish authorities announced the arrest of 1,418 people since March 19 for participating in banned rallies, which have been facing unprecedented protests since the Gezi Park movement that began in Istanbul's Taksim Square in 2013.
An Istanbul court on Tuesday ordered the pretrial detention of seven Turkish journalists on charges of participating in banned rallies since last week in the country's three largest cities.
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