Ahead of the fifth hearing of the case against some members of the Saturday Mothers/People, the group gathered in front of the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan.
The police did not allow the group to read out a statement, detaining at least 10 people, including defending lawyers and union representatives.
Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul Branch Chair Gülseren Yoleri and executive Leman Yurtsever, Left (SOL) Party member Alper Taş, lawyers Meriç Eyüboğlu and Efkan Bolaç and Newroz Tosun, a member of the Saturday Mothers/People are among the detained.
Meral Danyıldız, a reporter for Artı TV, said she was battered by the police and would file a criminal complaint.
What happened?
The Saturday Mothers/People staged their first sit-in protest on May 27, 1995, demanding that those who were forcibly disappeared be found and those responsible for the disappearances be put on trial.
On March 13, 1999, they suspended the gatherings after seven months of attacks by the police. The Saturday sit-ins resumed on January 31, 2009.
The Saturday Mothers/People faced police attack once again on August 25, 2018, the 700th week of the protest. Police used rubber bullets and detained many people.
The Beyoğlu district governor had banned the gathering "arbitrarily" within the knowledge of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, İHD İstanbul Chair Gülseren Yoleri said at the time.
A lawsuit was filed against 46 people for violating the Law on Gatherings and Demonstrations.
Names of of the defendants are: Koray Çağlayan, Koray Kesik, Leman Yurtsever, Levent Gökçek, Lezgin Özalp, Maside Ocak, Mehmet Günel, Muhammed Emin Ekinci, Ayça Çevik, Besna Koç, Cafer Balcı, Can Danyal Aktaş, Cihan Oral Gülünay, Cüneyt Yılmaz, Deniz Koç, Ercan Süslü, Ezgi Çevik, Faruk Eren, Fecri Çalboğa, Ferhat Ergen, Gamze Elvan, Hakan Koç, Hasan Akbaba, Hasan Karakoç, Jiyan Tosun, Kenan Yıldızerler, Murat Akbaş, Murat Koptaş, Onur Yanardağ, Osman Akın, Özer Oymak, Özge Elvan, Ramazan Bayram, Rüşa Sabur, Sadettin Köse, Adil Can Ocak, Ahmet Karaca, Ahmet Süleyman Benli, Ali Ocak, Ali Yiğit Karaca, Atakan Taşbilek, Ataman Doğa Kıroğlu, Saime Sebla Arcan, Sinan Arslan, Ulaş Bedri Çelik, Volkan Uyar.
