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Turkey protest: Istanbul rally concludes anti-Erdogan march | Turkey protest: Istanbul rally concludes anti-Erdogan march |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Istanbul at the end of a 450km (280-mile) protest march against the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. | Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Istanbul at the end of a 450km (280-mile) protest march against the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. |
More and more people have joined the "justice" march since it began in the capital Ankara on 15 June. | |
They are demonstrating against the mass dismissals and imprisonments that followed last year's failed coup. | They are demonstrating against the mass dismissals and imprisonments that followed last year's failed coup. |
President Erdogan has accused the marchers of supporting terrorism. | President Erdogan has accused the marchers of supporting terrorism. |
He said the Republican People's Party (CHP) - which has organised the march - had gone beyond political opposition and was "acting with terrorist organisations and the forces inciting them against our country". | He said the Republican People's Party (CHP) - which has organised the march - had gone beyond political opposition and was "acting with terrorist organisations and the forces inciting them against our country". |
The rally was the biggest show of defiance against President Erdogan since the Gezi Park protests four years ago. | |
CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said the rally marked "a new birth". | |
He told the crowds: "Nobody should think this march is the last one. It's the first step!" | |
He launched the march after one of his MPs, Enis Berberoglu, was arrested for allegedly leaking documents purporting to show that the government was arming jihadists in Syria. | |
Mr Berberoglu denies the charge. Sunday's rally drew a sea of people to an area close to the jail in which he is being held. | |
More than 50,000 people have been arrested and 140,000 dismissed or suspended during a state of emergency in place since last year's attempted military takeover. | |
The detentions of human rights activists and leading journalists have drawn international condemnation. | The detentions of human rights activists and leading journalists have drawn international condemnation. |
Mr Kilicdaroglu, who has walked around 20km a day for the past three weeks, condemns the coup attempt but says the purges and emergency rule by Mr Erdogan constitute a "second coup". | |
He told crowds at the rally: "We marched for justice, we marched for the rights of the oppressed. We marched for the MPs in jail. We marched for the arrested journalists. | |
"We marched for the university academics dismissed from their jobs. We marched because the judiciary is under a political monopoly." | |
The failed coup last July saw rogue soldiers bombing government buildings and driving tanks into civilians, killing more than 260. | The failed coup last July saw rogue soldiers bombing government buildings and driving tanks into civilians, killing more than 260. |
The BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul says there is a widespread feeling that the government has seized the chance to crush all opponents, not just alleged coup supporters. | |