Istanbul, 22 March 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Turkish authorities detained over 300 people during Friday's nationwide protests linked to a controversial investigation into Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the government said on Saturday.

Turkey has been swept by protests since popular opposition politician İmamoğlu and several of his aides were detained on Wednesday on corruption and terror allegations.

The government responded with strict security measures and banned gatherings in four major cities including Ankara and Istanbul to contain the protests.

A total of 343 people were detained late Friday at demonstrations across nine cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on social media platform X.

Yerlikaya accused the protesters of seeking to "disrupt public order and provoke chaos". On Friday evening, the minister had put the number of detained demonstrators at 97.

Meanwhile, 56 people have been detained separately for allegedly inciting unrest through social media posts, according to state news agency Anadolu.

The protests come amid a sweeping corruption and terrorism probe into İmamoğlu and 105 other suspects.

İmamoğlu, whose Republican People's Party (CHP) is preparing to name him as their presidential candidate on Sunday, has denied any wrongdoing and described the case as politically motivated.

In a post on X on Saturday, he again condemned the investigation as a "political coup."

"I call on my people. With your support, we will first defeat this coup, and then we will send off those who made us experience this," he wrote.

In an earlier post, İmamoğlu had commended the protests he said were aimed at protecting "democracy" and urged his supporters to proceed with Sunday's vote.

İmamoğlu is currently testifying at Istanbul police headquarters where he has been held since Wednesday, Anadolu reported.

The mayor is in good health and his morale is high, his lawyer and CHP Istanbul lawmaker Turan Taşkın Özer told dpa over the phone.

He is next expected to appear at Istanbul's high-security Çağlayan courthouse but the exact timing is unclear, Özer added.

If İmamoğlu is convicted on terrorism charges, Turkish law allows the authorities replace him with a government-affiliated official.

Photo: EPA