Turkish Police Fire Water Cannon And Tear Gas As Thousands Protest Local Election Results

Riot police have used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the thousands-strong crowd of protesters surrounding the Supreme Electoral Council in Ankara. The people demanded a recount of local election results, in which the ruling AKP party narrowly won.

Days after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) “claimed victory” in a very close race in the capital of Ankara, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets to protest fraud at the polls.

The crowd joined volunteers who earlier took to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) to claim their ballots. The volunteer teams, who collected copies of ballot box recordings, have pointed to noteworthy differences between the figures provided in records of the ballot boxes and the figures recorded by the YSK, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

“Thieves!” “Ankara, claim your votes,” “Rightists and leftists are brothers, Melih Gokcek is a tyrant,” the protesters chanted in front of the election board building. Gokcek is an AKP candidate.

Protesters, which included leftist supporters of CHP’s party candidate for Ankara Mansur Yavas, formerly of Nationalist Movement Party, also shouted nationalist slogans.

Live footage from the scene then showed police, that has been dispatched to the YSK building, using water cannon to disperse the crowd. RT’s reporter in Ankara Sara Firth also tweeted that tear gas was unleashed.

According to Firth, the Tuesday protest in Ankara had been “completely peaceful before police action.” Water cannon and tear gas were deployed after negotiations with the people, in which the protesters were asked to clear the streets to make room for traffic, but not leave the area altogether.

The Election Board’s officials said that the protesters were creating unnecessary tension.

 “If there are mistakes, they will be corrected by the district election boards,” YSK Chair Sadi Güven told reporters on Tuesday, adding that there was no need for “uneasiness.”

The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which lost with a slight 0.91 percent difference in votes in Ankara and gathered a total of 43.76 percent, contested the official results and filed for a recount of several ballot boxes on Tuesday. The party is led by socialist democrat Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Following overall victory in local elections nationwide, Erdogan promised his supporters that his opponents will “pay the price” at a Sunday rally.

 “There won’t be a state within a state. We will root them out,” Erdogan threatened.

Source: RT

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