Detention warrants were issued for a total of 82 people in seven provinces as part of an investigation carried out by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Yuksel Kocaman, who recently drew ire for visiting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace after his wedding.

Kars Co-Mayor Ayhan Bilgen, former deputies Sirri Sureyya Onder, Ayla Akat Ata, Nazmi Gur, Emine Ayna, Beyza Ustun and Altan Tan and HDP Central Executive Board (MYK) member Alp Altinors are among those detained early in the morning, Ahval reported.

Footage showed dozens of police officers detaining Bilgen and putting him in an armored vehicle, as people chanted, “This city is proud of you.”

Protesters flooded streets in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast in early October 2014, accusing the Turkish army of standing by as ISIS besieged Kobane, just across the Syrian border. The protests led to the deaths of 37 people. Ankara accuses the HDP of inciting them.

The detentions on September 25 are the latest in the government’s crackdown on the HDP. The party is often accused of having links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its former co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, have been imprisoned for nearly four years.

In a statement on September 25, prosecutors in Ankara said arrest warrants were issued over “several calls made to invite the public to the streets and carry out terror acts.”

“The Ankara Prosecutor’s Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau has launched an investigation on the PKK terrorist organization and its so-called executives, as well as certain political party executives and members… and, at the current stage, ordered the detention of 82 suspects,” the prosecutor’s office said.

Those sought were in the MYK of the party at the time of the protests.

The HDP released a statement on the issue, saying that it can’t be silenced.

In its statement, the party referred to prosecutor Kocaman’s visit to Erdogan in the presidential palace, saying that the decision to launch “a revenge operation” against the HDP was adopted there.

“The HDP will never bow down,” it said, adding that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) seek to eliminate the opposition as they lose votes.

HDP co-chair Mithat Sancar said that the judiciary has become a tool of the government.

“They attack as they lose, they lose as they attack,” Sancar said.

Reporter’s code: 50101