Police in Istanbul have once again thwarted the weekly protest of the Saturday Mothers, a group of women and their supporters who have been gathering at Galatasaray Square since 1995 to demand justice and accountability for their children who were victims of forced disappearances in the 1980s and 1990s in Turkey. In a show of solidarity, 16 provincial bar association presidents who came to support the gathering were also surrounded and detained by the police.

In their 956th weekly protest, the group tried to march to Galatasaray Square. However, the police rounded up the group and detained everyone inside with handcuffs.

This week's protest by the Saturday Mothers was joined Ozgul Saki, a deputy of the Green Left Party, and Ahmet SIk, a deputy from the Turkey Workers' Party (TİP). Carrying carnations in their hands, the demonstrators aimed to march from the Istanbul Bar Association building to Galatasaray Square, but the police cited the Beyoglu Governorate's "ban" decision and did not allow the procession.

Despite a decision by Turkey's Constitutional Court (AYM) in 2019 that declared the government's ban on demonstrations in Galatasaray Square as a violation of freedom of assembly, police have continued to impose a blockade around the area, preventing the Saturday Mothers from holding their weekly vigil.

Since the first week of April, the Saturday Mothers have attempted to resume their weekly gatherings in Galatasaray Square every Saturday, but the police, who do not recognize the AYM's ruling on the violation of rights, have intervened and arrested them every week.