Turkish Officers Disperse Anti-Police Brutality Protest

Turkish police officers, in riot gear, scuffle with protesters during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, against the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (AP)
Turkish police officers, in riot gear, scuffle with protesters during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, against the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (AP)
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Turkish Officers Disperse Anti-Police Brutality Protest

Turkish police officers, in riot gear, scuffle with protesters during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, against the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (AP)
Turkish police officers, in riot gear, scuffle with protesters during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, against the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (AP)

Police in Istanbul have dispersed a small group of demonstrators who gathered in the Turkish city to denounce police violence and to stand in solidarity with protesters in the United States.

At least 29 demonstrators were detained, Turkey's state-run agency reported.

Anadolu Agency said riot police broke up the demonstration in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district late Tuesday after the group of about 50 activists ignored calls to disperse.

Some of the anti-police violence activists were seen carrying a poster of George Floyd, who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck while the handcuffed black man called out that he couldn’t breathe.

Floyd's death on May 25 sparked protests that spread across the US and beyond.

Turkish authorities frequently impose bans on public demonstrations or gatherings on security grounds. Human rights groups often accuse police of using disproportionate force to break up demonstrations.



Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
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Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)

An Italian journalist detained in Iran since Dec. 19 and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home, Italian officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that Meloni had informed Sala's parents of the news.

There was no immediate word from the Iranian government on the journalist’s release.

Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the country, the official IRNA news agency said.

Italian commentators had speculated that Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days before on Dec. 16, on a US warrant.

The US Justice Department accused him and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost near the Syrian-Jordanian border that killed three American troops.

He remains in detention in Italy.