Istanbul Protests Erupt Over Prophet Cartoon, Police Detain Editors

In Istanbul, protests and clashes with police erupted following the detention of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and the controversy over a satirical magazine accused of publishing a cartoon insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Supporters of Imamoglu protested the 100th day of his detention, with police using pepper spray and detaining some demonstrators amid accusations by the opposition that his arrest resembled a coup. Separately, the LeMan magazine faced backlash after Istanbul's chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of its staff over a cartoon alleged to insult religious values, though the magazine denied any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. Hardline Islamist protesters rallied and clashed with police, shouting slogans including “Don’t forget Charlie Hebdo,” referencing a 2015 attack on a Paris magazine for similar caricatures. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned the cartoon as a hate crime and vowed legal consequences for those insulting religious figures. The violence and unrest drew international criticism from groups like Reporters Without Borders, which condemned the attacks and questioned the justification for the police response.