Responding to the dawn raid detention of Ekrem Imamoglu, the man many see as Turkey’s next president, thousands of students defied restrictions to protest on the campus of Istanbul University on March 19. Some later clashed with riot police, according to accounts posted on social media.

The BBC, meanwhile, on March 19, reported protests were erupting in Turkey and said that in underground metro stations in Istanbul there were crowds chanting anti-government slogans in "a display of public anger not seen in years". Thousands of people, added the broadcaster, rallied in the cold in front of Istanbul city hall, shouting: "Erdogan, dictator!" and "Imamoglu, you are not alone!"

After the campus protests, crowds of students demonstrating against the taking into custody of Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu—who this coming weekend was due to be nominated as the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate for president—later ignored what this publication has described as an undeclared state of emergency to march towards the mayoral headquarters. Meanwhile, there were union calls on members to take to the streets near the police station where Imamoglu was detained. A boulevard around the city police station was locked down, according to a report from The Guardian.

“We are faced with a coup attempt against our next president,” CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said on X. “There is currently a force in place to prevent the nation from determining the next president,” he added.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc attempted to quash the growing claims that the detention of Imamoglu—and 105 others, including Imamoglus’s chief spokesperson, Murat Ongun, head of the Imamoglu construction firm, Tuncay Yilmaz, and the head of the Istanbul municipality sports club, Fatih Keles, along with various other politicians and businessmen—was politically motivated, saying: “The rule of law is essential, It is utterly dangerous and wrong to mischaracterise the investigations conducted by the independent and impartial judiciary or describe them using expressions such as coup d’état.”

In a self-filmed video filmed prior to surrendering to police officers, 53-year-old Imamoglu, speaking to the camera, with a caption reading, “This is a blow to the will of the people”, said: “Hundreds of police officers have arrived at my door. I entrust myself to the people. The police are raiding my home, knocking on my door.”

“I stand resolute, entrusting myself not only to the 16 million residents of Istanbul but to the 86 million citizens of  Turkey, and all who uphold democracy and justice worldwide,” he later said. “I stand firm in my fight for fundamental rights and freedoms.”

Those detained are variously accused of corruption, embezzlement and bribery.

The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office said that Imamoglu was charged as “the leader of a criminal organisation” that committed extortion, fraud and corruption.

Prosecutors also accused Imamoglu and at least six others of assisting a terrorist organisation, a reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.