Turkish Police clash with pro-HDP protesters

Turkish police on Sunday brutally dispersed a protest, as demonstrators gathered to condemn the recent attack on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Istanbul.

As part of a years-long crackdown against parliament’s third-largest party, police battered and detained the protesters. Journalists were also battered and detained as they tried to report the police's attack.

Ferhat Encu, the former deputy of HDP, said many protesters had been arrested.

“In protest of the attacks against the HDP, we wanted to make a press release to express that we would not accept such an attack yet. But unfortunately, we’re faced with a legal ban from the governor. Our friends were taken into custody before we even packed up,” Encu said.

This came after a suspect was arrested following a knife attack on the HDP office on Tuesday that left three wounded.

The attack on the HDP office is the second major attack targeting the party in only six months. In June, a female employee named Deniz Poyraz was killed at the HDP Izmir Provincial Organization.

Thousands of HDP officials, former lawmakers, and members have been arrested over the last few years, including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.