The China Mail - Turkey won't surrender to 'street terror', Erdogan warns protesters

"Turkey will not surrender to street terror," Erdogan said as the leader of the main opposition CHP called for nationwide protests later on Friday over a move it has denounced as a "coup".

"Let me say it loud and clear: the street protests that the CHP leader has called for are a dead end," Erdogan warned.

The 53-year-old mayor -- Erdogan's main political rival -- was arrested on Wednesday, just days before he was to be named the CHP's candidate for the 2028 presidential race.

The move sparked two days of protests that began in Istanbul and quickly spread to at least 32 of Turkey's 81 provinces, according to an AFP count.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel has called a third nightly protest outside Istanbul City Hall at 1730 GMT, urging demonstrators to hit the streets across Turkey at the same time, despite the justice minister warning such calls were "unlawful and unacceptable".

On Friday, Istanbul's governor closed off Galata Bridge and Ataturk Bridge, which cross the Golden Horn estuary and are the main access routes to the historic peninsula where City Hall is located.

Thousands have defied a protest ban in Istanbul, gathering nightly outside City Hall. On Friday, the authorities extended the ban to the capital Ankara and the western coastal city of Izmir.

Police initially showed restraint but on Thursday fired rubber bullets and teargas as they scuffled with students in Istanbul and Ankara, AFP correspondents said.

So far, at least 88 protesters have been arrested, Turkish media said, with Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya saying 16 police officers had been hurt.

Police had also detained another 54 people for online posts deemed as "incitement to hatred", he said.

- 'Opposition drama' -

Late Thursday, Erdogan shrugged off the unrest -- Turkey's worst street protests in years -- as little more than "the opposition's dramas".

But he upped the ante with his speech on Friday, accusing the opposition leader of "grave irresponsibility".

Ozel had on Thursday vowed that the protests would continue.

"From now on, no one should expect CHP to do politics in halls or buildings, we'll be on the streets and in the squares," he told the crowd at City Hall.

The pro-Kurdish opposition DEM party also said it would join Friday's Istanbul rally.

Officials said Imamoglu and six others were under investigation for "aiding a terrorist organisation" -- namely the banned Kurdish PKK militant group. He is also under scrutiny in a graft probe involving about 100 other suspects.

Investigators reportedly began questioning Imamoglu on Friday afternoon, local media reported, saying all of the suspects were due in court on Sunday morning.

- Primary -

Despite Imamoglu's detention, the CHP vowed it would press ahead with its primary on Sunday at which it would formally nominate him as its candidate for the 2028 race.

The party said it would open the process to anyone who wanted to vote, not just party members, saying: "Come to the ballot box and say 'no' to the coup attempt!"

Observers said the government could seek to block the primary to prevent a further show of support for Imamgolu.

"If a large number of people show up and vote for Imamoglu, it will further legitimise him domestically," Gonul Tol, head of the Turkish studies programme at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told AFP.

"It could really move things in a direction that Erdogan doesn't want."

The move against Imamoglu has dealt a heavy blow to the Turkish lira, and on Friday the BIST 100 stock exchange was trading lower, shedding 6.63 percent shortly after 1200 GMT.

H.Au--ThChM