Hurriyet - Two people who wanted to unfurl a banner for the May 1 Worker’s Day celebrations
have been detained in Istanbul’s Taksim Square by police.
Earlier on
April 24, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said the May 1 celebrations would not
be held in Taksim Square.
Two women entered the square despite tightened
security measures and heavy presence of police early on May 1. The women
unfurled a banner in the square but were initially halted by traffic police. The
women were taken to the police headquarters.
Meanwhile, police tightened
security nearby the square. Guests of hotels around the square were also checked
before May 1. The square was closed off with barriers by police while traffic
has also been suspended until the end of the celebrations.
Taksim
Square became a symbolic venue for Turkey’s leftist groups after suspected
ultranationalists opened fire from what is now the Marmara Hotel, killing at
least 34 people in 1977.