VIOLENCE against progressive forces in Turkey continued over the weekend as trade unionists and People’s Democratic Party (HDP) activists were attacked in separate incidents in Istanbul.

A HDP election stand was attacked by a “racist mob” on the island of Buyukada yesterday. A party activist was stabbed four times with a knife. Police attended the scene and arrested the wounded man.

And in the Gazi district of the city, 10 HDP members were arrested while putting up campaign posters for next Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections. The posters were confiscated by police.

HDP officials have accused the government of carrying out a “political genocide” in Turkey.

On one of the bloodiest days of the election campaign, five people were killed as ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) thugs went on the rampage on Thursday, shooting opposition supporters.

HDP supporter Fadil Senyasar, whose father and two brothers were killed in Thursday’s brutal attack in the border town of Suruc, was arrested yesterday after his release from hospital.

No government supporters have yet been detained in connection with the murders. A delegation that includes members of Turkey’s Human Rights Association has been denied access to the area.

With just a week to go before the country goes to the polls,
hundreds of thousands of HDP activists rallied under the banner “a life without exploitation and war” in the Bakirkoy district of Istanbul yesterday.

At least forty members of the Confederation of Public-Sector Workers (Kesk) were arrested on Saturday in a heavy-handed police operation after they unfurled a banner reading: “We will get our jobs back.”

Trade union members have been protesting for 70 weeks, demanding the reinstatement of the 170,000 public-sector workers sacked under the state of emergency in place since the failed coup of July 2016.