Thousands join the 'NO' rally of the HDP in Istanbul

Thousands of people are joining the 'No' rally organised by Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Istanbul for the upcoming referendum of April 16.

Thousands of people are joining the rally organised by Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Istanbul to voice their 'No' stance against the upcoming referendum of April 16 through which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan desires to receive public approval for the presidential system he needs to seize all the authorities.

The rally is organised with the motto 'No, So that we all win' is taking place in Istanbul's Göztepe area where thousands have already started gathering with banners reading 'No' in Turkish and Kurdish. The people joining the rally emphasise that they will not allow the establishment of one-man rule by Erdoğan.

The rally grounds is under the blockade of police forces who are allowing the crowd into the area only after passing through checkpoints around the scene. The police seized the Kurdish symbols carried by the people but were forced to return them upon the reactions.

Carrying posters of jailed co-chairs of the HDP, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, demonstrators are also voicing solidarity with the hunger strikes of PKK and PAJK prisoners in jails across Turkey.