Taksim Gezi Park

Some 170 people, including journalists, were detained on Tuesday after Turkish police aggressively prevented people from marking the ninth anniversary of the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul.

The crowd was not allowed to enter Taksim Square and Gezi Park and police used violence to stop demonstrators, with barricades, tear gas and batons.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (R) at a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, October 7, 2019. Photo by EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has strongly criticized Germany for its reaction over the Kavala case, accusing the prominent European nation of interfering in the internal affairs of Turkey.

Defying police intervention, thousands of protesters on Tuesday took to the streets of Istanbul to condemn a Turkish court's decision to jail for life philanthropist and human rights advocate Osman Kavala and others for their roles in the Gezi Park Protests in 2013, which the court insisted was a coup attempt.

Protesters hold placards reading "The Gezi resistance continues" in front of the Istanbul Caglayan Court House to support Turkish businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

Justice cannot be through fictional legal procedures, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said, criticizing the government for issuing a life sentence against businessman Osman Kavala and other defendants over the 2013 Gezi Protests.

A Turkish court April 25 sentenced Osman Kavala- a Turkish businessman who is accused of financing 2013 anti-government protests and playing a role in the 2016 coup attempt- to life in jail.

The panel of three judges also sentenced seven other less prominent defendants to 18 years in jail each on charges of aiding the attempt to topple the government.

An Istanbul court has sentenced a policeman to 16 years and eight months in jail in a case into the death of Berkin Elvan during the Gezi protests in 2013.

Turkey has transferred ownership of Istanbul's Gezi Park, the focus of anti-government protests in 2013, from municipal to national ownership, drawing criticism from local authorities who said they would challenge the decision.

Kudret Cetinkaya, a 21-year-old student in Istanbul, experienced brutal intervention by the Turkish police against this week's mass student protests in Istanbul.