Governor's office bans protest for 15 days in Van, restricts travels

Duvar English

The governor's office in Turkey's eastern Van province on April 2 banned all protests in the city after mass protest broke out over the provincial electoral board's decision to present the metropolitan municipality mayorship to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate, despite the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party's overwhelming victory in the mayoral elections.

The governor deployed a large number of police and gendarmerie forces against the protestors and the security forces have been attacking the people in the city with tear gas and water cannons.

The governor's office stated, "Except for those deemed appropriate by the Governor's Office and District Governor's Offices, demonstrations, marches, open-air meetings and indoor meetings, all kinds of press statements, sit-ins and surveys, setting up tents and stands, organizing signature campaigns, distributing leaflets, brochures and flyers and all kinds of protest actions are banned."

The governor's office also announced that "individuals and groups likely to participate in unlawful protests or events" would not be allowed to enter Van and its districts and would not be allowed to leave individually or in groups.

Following Van, Bitlis Governor's Office also announced a 15-day ban on demonstrations and events following the widespread protests in the eastern province.

According to the statement, all protests were banned and entry-exit restrictions in the province began to be imposed until April 17.

AKP has won the elections in Bitlis province with 38.23 percent of the votes against DEM that garnered 37.38. The DEM Party attributed their lost to the security officers who had been transferred to the DEM's strongholds as voters just before the elections.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that 89 people were detained during protests in various provinces.