(ANSA) - ISTANBUL, 01 MAY - Dozens of people were arrested in Istanbul on the sidelines of the First May celebrations where scuffles between the police and demonstrators are reported.
According to a statement from the governor's office, 164 people were arrested after organizing an "unauthorized demonstration" and refusing to disperse despite police warnings in Taksim Square, the epicenter of anti-government protests in 2013, closed to other traffic and where marches are prohibited.
The images broadcast by the AFP show the clashes between the police in riot gear, lined up in front of the barriers of the square to prevent the rallies, and the demonstrators: some of them were forcibly blocked to the ground before being loaded into a police car and taken to the central .
Elsewhere, several thousand people peacefully joined the official demonstration of trade unions and professional organizations, which was authorized far from Taksim Square in a neighborhood on the Asian side of Istanbul.
(HANDLE).
