Families of prisoners were to hold a sit-in protest in front of the Gebze Prison to draw attention to the ongoing hunger strikes demanding an end to the isolation imposed upon Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The police stopped the prisoners’ relatives as they were entering the district. The police threatened to lock up their vehicles and detain them, and then attacked them before they could get out of the vehicles.

At least 20 people were taken into custody in the crackdown, including Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Istanbul Chapter Co-chair Esengul Demir.

The detainees have been taken to Gebze Security Directorate.