Canadian reporters Sasa Petricic and Derek Stoffel have been released from detention in Istanbul, Turkey. The two journalists had been picked up by police earlier on Wednesday while covering ongoing anti-government protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Square for the public broadcaster CBC. The pair had been held all day.
“We’re out!” Petricic tweeted.
“Arrested taking pics of city crew removing protester barricade,” he tweeted. “Accused [of] impeding road works & resisting arrest.”
He also wrote that he spent several hours in a cell with “eight young guys arrested for very frivolous things,” included two who were detained while bringing food to protesters.
Stoffel tweeted following his release: “My exclusive ‘tour’ of the Turkish justice system is over! Thanks for all the kind comments! And very big thanks to all at @CBCNews…the Cdn Foreign Affairs dept. and my new Turkish friends for helping expedite my release! It’s late so going to sleep. Night all!”
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.