19 detained during anti-government protest in Ankara

At least nineteen people were detained in Ankara on Sunday during a protest rally against the government. The rally in front of City Hall in the district of Çankaya was triggered by a new historic low for the lira. The Turkish currency, which has already lost 40 percent of its value this year, plummeted again against the dollar and euro on Tuesday. As a result of inflation, prices for basic foodstuffs have shot up exorbitantly. The renewed plunge in the exchange rate came after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defended the cut in the key interest rate and declared that his country was in a “war of economic independence.”

For days, people in many places in Turkey have been taking to the streets in response to the lira crisis. In Ankara, the Forces for Labor and Democracy alliance called for a protest today. “AKP, resign,” the alliance demands. The police proceeded in two waves of attacks against the demonstrators and broke up the rally with the use of tear gas. One man suffered a life-threatening asthma attack as a result of the pepper spray use and was taken to a hospital.

Among those detained is journalist Öznur Değer, correspondent for the Kurdish women’s news agency JinNews. Police also confiscated her camera. It is not known to which precinct the detainees were taken.