2023-05-07 19:41:34
Türkiye
Istanbul mayor’s campaign bus rocked in mid-speech
Opponent of President Erdogan, Ekrem Imamoglu was targeted by stone throwing on Sunday in Erzurum, in a region acquired by the presidential party AKP.
Published
Ekrem Imamoglu was making a speech from the roof of the bus when rocks started being thrown at the windows.
DR
The campaign bus of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a champion of the opposition to the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan since his election in 2019, has been stoned in eastern Turkey, a stronghold of the presidential party AKP.
Forced to take refuge inside
Images released by the office of the mayor of the economic capital show the windows of the bus smashed by stones, during a stop in the middle of an electoral tour in Erzurum (east). Ekrem Imamoglu was making a speech from the roof of the bus when stones started to be thrown at the windows, forcing him to take refuge inside.
Police used water cannons to disperse the attackers, according to footage posted on social media.
A rising star on the Turkish political scene, Ekrem Imamoglu was prevented from running for president by a court conviction which he appealed.
Uncertain election
The Turkish opposition alliance promises, in the event of victory in the presidential and legislative elections of May 14, to break with two decades of legacy of President Erdogan.
The latter faces on May 14 the most uncertain election since coming to power, confronted for the first time in twenty years with a united opposition in a country in crisis. Facing him are three contenders but only one real adversary: Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, 74, candidate of an alliance of six opposition parties which goes from the nationalist right to the democratic left, and which is dominated by the CHP (social- democrat) founded by the father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Kemal Kiliçdaroglua indicated that in the event of victory Ekrem Imamoglu would be one of his vice-presidents.
(AFP)
1683489712
#Turkey #Istanbul #mayors #campaign #bus #rocked #full #speech
