He is our hope' Protesters call for release of Istanbul mayor challenging Erdogan's rule

Outside Istanbul's city hall on Wednesday night, a mass of protesters gathered in the freezing air to defy a city-wide ban on gatherings.

- Ruth Michaelson

Outside Istanbul's city hall on Wednesday night, a mass of protesters gathered in the freezing air to defy a city-wide ban on gatherings. A banner bearing a portrait of the mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, giving a speech alongside the words "sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation," covered part of the facade of his now vacant office.

In dawn raids that morning, police had detained Imamoglu, the only contender seen as capable of defeating Recep Tayyip Erdogan in presidential elections.

For many residents of Turkey's largest city, the arrest symbolized how far the state was willing to go to remove a perceived threat to the incumbent president.

Armored water cannon trucks were lined up, and riot police assembled beneath the arches of a nearby Roman aqueduct, some marching to the edge of the protest that filled the park around the city hall. Illuminated by the lights of a nearby minaret, a group of teenagers waved Turkish flags and smoked cigarettes as they sat on a high wall to get a view of the assembled crowds.

"I'm not here for political reasons. This is about something more than politics. This is about injustice," said Beril, an Istanbul university student who had showed up to protest along with her mother. She had been shocked at the number of armed police on campus to repress protests there, she said, although their presence had done little to quell the anger.