Authorties deployed more than 40,000 police officers across the city after banning protests in Taksim Square.
Union members clash with Turkish anti riot police officers as they march during Labor Day celebrations in Istanbul
Police were deployed across Istanbul, blocking even small sidestreets with metal barriers in an attempt to prevent protesters gatheringImage: Emrah Gurel/AP Photo/picture alliance

Turkish police on Wednesday arrested more than 200 people who tried to reach Istanbul’s historic Taksim Square for May 1 rallies, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

Police used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse thousands of protesters who defied a ban on celebrating International Workers’ Day there.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had outlawed the annual protest on Taksim Square, but the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ozgur Ozel, called for the rally to go ahead.

Anti riot police officers stand guard blocking routes in Istanbul used by workers in May Day protestsAnti riot police officers stand guard blocking routes in Istanbul used by workers in May Day protests
Main roads in Istanbul were closed and public transportation was halted due to a security clampdownImage: Emrah Gurel/AP Photo/picture alliance
More than 42,000 police officers were deployed to keep order in the city, Yerlikaya said.

Ozel and Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was reelected this year on a CHP ticket, joined a march towards Taksim Square, but organizers stopped several miles away as routes were blocked.

Some protesters clashed with security forces as they tried to breach the barricades.

“If May 1 is not celebrated in the country’s main square, democracy is in trouble. This struggle will continue until Taksim is free,” Ozel said earlier.

The Constitutional Court ruled at the end of last year that a ban of demonstrations in Taksim Square violated the right to peaceful assembly.