Anti-Erdogan protests held as Turkey extends state of emergency

Thousands of protestors took to the streets of Istanbul on Monday for a second night of protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The demonstrators denounced impending "fascism" in Turkey after Erdogan won a referendum on Sunday that will give him sweeping new powers, Deutsche Welle reported.

"We are shoulder to shoulder against fascism," the crowd chanted, filling the staunchly anti-Erdogan Besiktas and Kadikoy district's of Turkey's largest city. Smaller protests were held all around Turkey, including in the city of Antalya, where at least 13 demonstrators were arrested.

After winning Sunday's constitutional reform vote by 51.41 percent, Erdogan will no longer have to share power after November with the prime minister, whose post is due to be abolished. The entire executive branch will thus be under the direct power of the president.

Although Turkey's three largest cities - Istanbul, Izmir and the capital Ankara - all voted "no" against the reforms, Erdogan was very successful in more rural parts of the country. At a victory rally in Ankara, the president praised his supporters for "standing tall," in the face of what he dubbed the "crusader mentality" of Western countries.

Source: MENA