Sayeed Muhammad: A Turkish court yesterday jailed pending trial 24 people involved in protests over work conditions at Istanbul’s new airport last week, Reuters reports referring to broadcaster CNN Turk.
The airport is a centerpiece of a 15-year construction boom under President Tayyip Erdogan and it has an initial planned capacity of 90 million passengers a year, making it one of the world’s biggest airports.
On Sunday, Istanbul’s governor said more than 400 people were initially detained for taking part in the protests. The following day, work resumed at the airport amid a heavy police and gendarmerie presence, according to labor unions.
Some 43 people among those detained were sent to an Istanbul court to rule on what action would be taken and it released 19 of them subject to judicial monitoring.
The 24 formally arrested and remanded in custody faced provisional charges such resisting police, damaging public property and contravening the law governing protests.
Workers have long complained about food, housing and work safety conditions at the construction site, which unions have likened to a concentration camp.
In February, Turkey’s labor ministry said 27 workers had died at the airport since the start of work in 2015, mainly from accidents or health problems. Protests started on Friday after a shuttle bus accident injured 17 workers.
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