33 Twitter detainees in Gezi Park protests released

ISTANBUL

Thirty-three people who were detained in İzmir for “inciting riots and conducting propaganda” on the social media network Twitter have been released based on a prosecutor's decision. DHA Photo

Thirty-three people who were detained in İzmir for “inciting riots and conducting propaganda” on the social media network Twitter have been released based on a prosecutor's decision, daily Radikal reported today.

One person is still in custody, while four are still being sought. In total, 34 people were detained on June 5.

Meanwhile, İzmir Governor Mustafa Toprak told journalists on the sidelines of an event in the province that the tweets by those detained included calls for destruction.

“Of course, there is no problem with communicating over social media. Sending or receiving posts, but there is some content that would produce the crime of provoking people to burn, demolish and loot. Thus, we should handle these seriously,” Toprak said.

He added that the issue would be investigated by the judicial authorities.

Commenting on the images from the protests in İzmir of people with sticks in their hands challenging protestors, the governor said this issue would also be investigated following a move from the Interior Ministry.

The tweets posted by detainees contained phrases like “let’s meet here” or “the police are coming,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) provincial secretary and attorney Sevda Erdan Kılıç told the Hürriyet Daily News on June 5.

"There were some who asked for doctors, some joked about being full of gas. There were things like, ‘resist, let’s not leave the square abandoned,’” Kılıç added.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently described the microblogging website as a “menace,” following the heavy traffic that was witnessed on Twitter during the Gezi Park protests.

“There is a menace called Twitter. Unmitigated lies are there [on Twitter],” Erdoğan said. “The thing that is called social media is a troublemaker in societies today.”