ISTANBUL — Protesters continued taking to streets in Turkey's big cities as they marked a week since the start of street demonstrations after the arrest of Istanbul opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, as part of a graft and "terror" probe.

 

Vast crowds have hit the street daily despite protest bans in Istanbul and other big cities and the arrests with 1,418 people held up to Tuesday according to official figures.

 

Those detained include AFP journalist Yasin Akgul, who the Paris-based agency says was doing his job covering the protests. 

 

Republican People's (CHP) party leader Ozgur Ozel urged people to attend a mega rally on Saturday in the Istanbul district of Maltepe to demand early elections.

 

Addressing the vast crowds gathered for a seventh straight night at Istanbul City Hall, Ozel said the crackdown would only strengthen the protest movement.

 

Erdogan himself took aim at Ozel in a speech to his party, dismissing the CHP leader as "a politically bankrupt figure whose ambitions and fears have taken his mind captive".

 

The CHP, he said, had created "too much material even for Brazilian soap operas" with corruption cases in Istanbul municipalities.