Dozens of people have been targeted by the police in the wake of protests against the appointment of trustees on 4 November to the municipalities of Mardin, Batman and Halfeti in the place of the mayors elected by the Kurdish population in the 31 March local elections.

Kadri Çakar, Mehmet Emin Şahin, Dilbirîn Şahin, Serhat Yalçınkaya and Hacı Tekin were detained in house raids conducted by the Turkish police in Mardin. The detainees were taken to Mardin Provincial Security Directorate. 

In Amed, a young man who participated in the march organised under the slogan ‘Democracy against the trustees’ was detained. Mehmet Ateş was taken away by tens of police officers and tortured on the ground for minutes. Ateş, who is claimed to have a detention warrant by the police, was taken away in an armoured vehicle after being handcuffed.