Türkiye's main opposition says more than two million people have attended a pro-democracy rally in defiance of a government crackdown. It has promised more protests until the government releases a popular presidential candidate accused of corruption from jail.
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00:00This is the first major demonstration in Istanbul for several days and it comes despite police
00:07up till the start of this having arrested 1,800 protesters including students, activists,
00:13journalists and cameramen.
00:15The government declared an extended holiday for the end of the month of Ramadan for Eid
00:20in the hope that protesters would leave town and these demonstrations wouldn't be big.
00:24But organisers were nevertheless hoping for more than a million people to turn up here
00:29and demonstrate their support.
00:31In fact the CHP, the republican party of which the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu belongs,
00:37has declared it will hold continuous actions until the government releases the mayor from
00:42detention and the prosecutions against him are dropped.
00:47Protesters here say they're not deterred by the government's clampdown on demonstrations
00:51and the arrests.
00:52They're going to keep coming.
00:53They're going to keep demonstrating.
00:54I am feeling very angry, feeling broken, feeling disempowered and feeling ashamed about
01:04the situation they put my country in.
01:06Therefore I came here to react.
01:11Today we are here for the future of our young people, the future of the country, for the
01:15future of our republic.
01:17They say they want Ekrem İmamoğlu released and they want to see Turkey return to a path
01:22of democracy.