Police terrorize people before Erdoğan's rally in Amed

Police terrorize people before Erdoğan's rally in Amed
The main Kurdish city Amed has been turned into an open prison before the rally to be held by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım today afternoon.
Saturday, April 1, 2017 2:00 PM
AMED - ANF



Thousands of police brought to Amed before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's rally today afternoon are terrorizing people across the city. Amid criminal record check and ID control by police forces at every step, municipal vehicles have been mobilized to transfer AKP supporters and guards to the rally grounds from surrounding villages.

While a de-facto curfew is in place for the residents who do not support the AKP, police forces have been deployed at every corner and on every street and almost all areas are covered with Turkish flags and Erdoğan's images. Helicopters are flying low over the city and security measures have been increased around the governor's office. The 'No' banners of HDP and CHP have been pulled down on the roads leading to the governor's office and on all streets where Erdoğan's bus will pass through.

Traffic has been blocked on numerous roads as of early morning hours and police are subjecting almost every single person to criminal record check and ID control, and those not registered in Amed are facing questions like “Why are you here?” and “What are you doing here?”.

Snipers have been stationed on high buildings and in busy streets and tensions are high across the city because of police forces' insults and interventions at the residents. Two university students have been taken into custody for opposing the repression of police.

While banners with a 'Welcome' writing and Erdoğan's images have been hanged at various locations in the city, it grabs attention that there are no images of Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım at all.

On the other hand, municipal buses have been mobilized to transfer AKP supporters and village guards -armed locals serving the state and army- to the rally grounds. 40 buses have been allocated for the transfer of village guards alone. The Governorate and appointed municipal officials are forcing their employees to join the rally.

In the meantime, the Governorate has banned the HDP's referendum campaign song “Bêjin Na” [Say No] yesterday. A person that played the song in his car this morning faced an intervention by the police.

As tensions remain high in the city, it is observed that nobody has come to the rally grounds yet.