Özgür Gündem office raided by police

Özgür Gündem newspaper, which has been closed down temporarily with a court decision released earlier today, has been raided by police.

While people rushed to the office of the newspaper in Beyoğlu, İstanbul for support, the police took them out and tried blocking people from taking photos or recording videos outside of the office, also checking IDs of people around the site.

Around the same time, police also seized the camera of IMC TV while reporter Gülfem Karataş was on broadcast. Karataş was also assaulted.

It's been reported that the street where the office building is located has also been blocked by security forces.

A skirmish took place between the police officers who raided the office forcefully and the staff members of the newspapers. While police seized the IDs of those inside, a search was also carried out inside.

Over 10 journalists have been arrested

Reporter of Özgür Gündem Ersin Çaksu firstly announced the raid of the police from his twitter account by saying: ‘Just now, our newspaper office has been raided’, also sharing photos of the first minutes of the raid inside the office.

According to the list of those taken into custody, as released by Evrensel newspaper, over 10 journalists have already been arrested: Zana Kaya, İnan Kızılkaya, Sinan Baran, Fırat Yeşilçınar, Günay Aksoy, Reyhan Hacıoğlu, Doğan Güzel, Ersin Çaksu, Davut Uçar, along with Yılmaz Bozkurt (İstanbul Medical Association press member), and Mesut Kaynak (DİHA reporter), have been arrested, with the ‘behind-the-back-handcuffing’ method.