Police mount tight security outside HDP headquarters after 11 MPs detained

Record ID: 80200

  • Title: Police mount tight security outside HDP headquarters after 11 MPs detained
  • Date: 4th November 2016
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (NOVEMBER 11, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WATER CANNON PARKED OUTSIDE PRO-KURDISH PEOPLES' DEMOCRATIC PARTY (HDP) HEADQUARTERS POLICEMEN BY BARRIERS POLICEMAN STANDING ON STREET VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN STANDING BEHIND SECURITY BARRIERS POLICE VAN PASSING THROUGH BARRIERS WATER CANNON PARKED OUTSIDE MAN BUYING NEWSPAPER AT KIOSK HEADLINE OF HURRIYET NEWSPAPER READING (Turkish): "NIGHT OPERATION TO HDP" VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN AND WATER CANNON OUTSIDE HDP HEADQUARTERS
  • Embargoed: 19th November 2016 06:20
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ANKARA, TURKEY
  • City: ANKARA, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Bombing (non-military),Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015712P1J
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Riot police mounted tight security measures outside pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Ankara on Friday (November 4) after raiding party offices and detaining two co-leaders along with nine other lawmaker over reluctance to give testimony for crimes linked to "terrorist propaganda."
    The Turkish Interior Ministry said detention orders for 13 MPs were issued, but only 11 were detained as two lawmakers were abroad.
    Turkish police raided the Ankara house of co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and the house of co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the party's lawyers told Reuters.
    A widespread difficulty in reaching social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook as well as messaging app WhatsApp were reported across Turkey after the detentions started at midnight.
    HDP is the third largest party in the 550-seat Turkish parliament, with 59 seats. Parliamentarians in Turkey normally enjoy immunity from prosecution, but the pro-Kurdish party's immunity was lifted earlier this year.
    Turkey accuses the HDP of links to the Kurdish militant group PKK, which is deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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