Almost seven years after the Saturday Mothers’ 700th peaceful vigil was violently broken up by riot police in Istanbul, 45 people standing trial for participating in the vigil were finally acquitted in March. Although their ordeal is finally over, they should never have been charged in the first place.
The Saturday Mothers are a powerful symbol of the importance of peaceful protest. They are mothers, relatives and their supporters, who have been holding peaceful weekly vigils in Istanbul since 1995, gathering each Saturday to protest the enforced disappearance of their relatives and to demand truth and justice. However, in 2018, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse a peaceful gathering of hundreds of people, some in their 80s.
Amnesty members have long supported the Saturday Mothers and have been calling on the Turkish authorities to respect the protesters’ right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
