Turkish rock band Peyk's vocalist, ferry passengers attacked after asking group to mask up

Duvar English

İrfan Alış, the frontman of the rock band “Peyk,” was among several ferry passengers who was attacked on July 31 evening for warning a group on board the ferry to wear their masks.

The ferry was on its way from Burgazada, one of the Princes Islands (Adalar) in the Sea of Marmara, to Istanbul's Bostancı neighborhood.

After his music band “Peyk” took the stage at the live music venue “Cennet Bahçesi” on Burgazada, Alış wanted to go back to Istanbul using the ferry.

However, along with the ferry's captain, other musicians and several other passengers, Alış was attacked after asking that a group of people on board the ferry abide by the mandatory rule of wearing masks in line with the COVID-19 measures.

The assailants used fire extinguisher tubes and sticks to batter the passengers. Once the ferry arrived at the Bostancı neighborhood, the police intervened, with the battered people filing a criminal complaint.

“A group of ten people who were not wearing masks and disturbing the surrounding environment have attacked another group of people with kicks and punches for warning them. Upon this attack, I and a couple of other people intervened to stop the assailants, but then this group also attacked us. The group then attacked other passengers, musicians who were doing music on board the ferry and the captain who had come to soothe the incident,” Alış said.

Gözde Güldal, one of the passengers who was attacked, wrote on Twitter: “Last night, on the Burgazada-Bostancı [ferry] line, we were attacked by a group whom we had warned to wear masks. Tens of people have been beaten. They have attacked everyone using cleaning tools and fire extinguisher tubes. Musicians, other passengers, and even the ferry captain who was trying to calm the incident were all attacked.”

In response to Güldal, the municipal ferry company Şehir Hatları wrote on Twitter that the assailants and complainants had been taken to a police station following the incident, and statements of both sides were taken down.