Turkish police once again violently prevented the weekly demonstration by Saturday Mothers in Galatasaray Square in Istanbul. For the 968th time since its foundation in 1995, the initiative wanted to make a statement on "disappearances" in state custody and demand punishment for the perpetrators on central Istiklal Avenue. As in previous weeks, the sit-in was prevented on the basis of a ban on assembly issued by the district governor’s office at the instigation of the Ministry of Interior.

When the group nevertheless approached the square in front of the Galatasaray High School, which was cordoned off by barriers and bars, they were immediately surrounded by police anti-riot units. Among them was former HDP MP Musa Piroğlu, who has been confined to a wheelchair since an accident. However, the politician was taken to a separate cauldron. Using tactical shields, the police squeezed the rest of the chained people close together. Members of the media who were observing the events were obstructed in their documentation of the police action and forcibly pushed out of the square.

Lawyer Eren Keskin, who is also co-chair of the Human Rights Association (IHD), criticised the actions of the police. She also criticised the security authorities for ignoring a ruling by the Constitutional Court by banning the Saturday Mothers' vigil. Turkey's highest court had ruled in February that the bans on demonstrations against the initiative ordered since 2018 were unlawful and rejected objections by the Interior Ministry, which justified the restrictions on freedom of assembly and demonstration by claiming that the Saturday Mothers posed a threat to public order. Since April, the group's vigils have therefore again taken place on Istiklal Avenue instead of in a small side street in front of the IHD branch. The police ignore the Constitutional Court's ruling and break up the protest week after week.

Human rights activist Maside Ocak Kışlakçı, who was successful with the constitutional complaint in favour of the Saturday Mothers, said the following under police siege: "Decisions of Turkey's highest court are binding on all organs of the legislative, executive and judicial branches, and non-compliance with constitutional provisions is a serious violation of the principle of the rule of law and the constitutional order on which this principle is based. Yet, for the past six months, we have repeatedly observed that the security authorities of this country disregard the Basic Law and declare decisions of the Constitutional Court null and void. This is a picture of shame."

At least 24 members and supporters of the Saturday Mothers were detained by the police and taken to a nearby police station. Among them are 71-year-old Hanife Yıldız, whose son Murat disappeared in police custody in Izmir in 1995 at the age of nineteen, and 72-year-old Mikail Kırbayır, whose brother Cemil was tortured to death by the military junta in 1980. The detainees are facing charges for allegedly violating official regulations.