Amnesty International calls for investigation into alleged police torture during March protests in Türkiye News
Mahmut Bozarslan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Amnesty International calls for investigation into alleged police torture during March protests in Türkiye

Amnesty International on Wednesday called upon Turkish authorities to investigate widespread allegations of police violence during largely peaceful protests held across the country recently, and sounded alarm of potential acts of torture as defined under international law.

According to Amnesty, law enforcement used tear-gas, pepper spray, water cannons, and kinetic impact projectiles against peaceful protesters, often at close range, targeting the head or upper body. Restrained or dispersing protesters were reportedly beaten, kicked, or dragged.

Witness testimony detailed disturbing patterns of violence. Protesters described being kicked in the head, struck with batons, and verbally abused, including threats of sexual violence and death. One student recounted being dragged while on her knees, saying, “I thought I would die.” Another protester said officers told him, “We’ll put you in through the back door of the riot police bus, and your corpse will come out the front door.”

The arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, and 91 others affiliated with the opposition Peoples’ Republican Party (CHP) and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, sparked the protests, which occurred March 19-26. İmamoğlu, who had just been named his party’s presidential candidate, was held in pretrial detention on March 23 alongside 53 others. In response, tens of thousands of people participated in nationwide rallies organized by the CHP, despite public assembly and travel bans imposed throughout several regions of the country.

By the end of March, authorities had detained at least 1,879 people, placing over 300 in pretrial detention. Journalists and lawyers were among those charged under Türkiye’s Law on Meetings and Demonstrations, which criminalizes unauthorized gatherings. Dozens of prosecutions began in April, with further hearings ongoing.

Amnesty emphasized that the force used against protesters violated both Turkish law and international human rights standards. Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention against Torture, Türkiye is legally obligated to ensure freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as well as prevent torture and other forms of cruel or degrading treatment. Amnesty noted that many police dispersal orders gave little or no opportunity for protesters to leave voluntarily and that blanket bans on assemblies are presumed disproportionate under international law.

The organization called on the Turkish government to ensure independent investigations into all alleged abuses, hold those responsible accountable through fair trials, and provide redress for victims.

THIS DAY @ LAW

White supremacists overthrow government in Wilmington, North Carolina

A group of white supremacists overthrew the government of Wilmington, North Carolina on November 10, 1898, killing at least dozens of Black people in the process. The city's Republican government resigned after the 500-2,000 strong white mob burned the offices of a Black-owned newspaper and terrorized black neighborhoods. The new state Democratic government passed laws in 1899 disenfranchising Black voters across North Carolina. Learn more about the 1898 Wilmington Coup.

Supreme Court limited free speech in wartime

On November 10, 1919, the US Supreme Court ruled in Abrams v. United States that the federal government could criminalize speech if it was of a type tending to bring about harmful results, in this case, resistance to the United States war effort. In a powerful dissenting opinion, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes countered that even during wartime, free speech could only be curtailed when there was clear and "present danger of immediate evil or an intent to bring it about."

Leonid Brezhnev dies

On November 10, 1982, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died of a heart attack. He had served as leader of the USSR from October 1964 until his death. Following his death, the Soviet Union cycled through three more leaders during the 1980s until Mikhail Gorbachev allowed the country to dissolve in 1991. Read an obituary of Leonid Brezhnev from the New York Times.