Above Photo: Members of the Turkey Youth Union hold an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama during a protest in Antalya, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015. The 2015 G-20 Leaders Summit will be held near the Turkish Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya on Nov. 15-16, 2015. Emrah Gurel/AP.
Police detained dozens of people Sunday during a series of protests denouncing a G20 summit, although the demonstrations were mostly peaceful.
ANTALYA, TURKEY — Police in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya detained dozens of people Sunday during a series of protests denouncing a G-20 summit that is underway in a nearby seaside resort, although the demonstrations were mostly peaceful.
Security is tight during two-day meeting that was expected to be dominated by discussions about how the G-20 nations will respond to the deadly Paris attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group. Demonstrators were being kept miles away from the venue at a secluded seaside resort some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Antalya city.
A group of some 500 youths belonging to a Turkish nationalist association gathered in the city, holding up card-board effigies of U.S. President Barack Obama and denouncing U.S. interventions in the Middle East. Police allowed the group to march briefly only after they agreed to leave the effigies behind.
Hundreds of members of Turkish left-wing groups and trade unions later held another protest denouncing the organization which gathers the world’s wealthiest economies.
Earlier, police detained four protesters who wanted to walk to the venue of the G-20 summit to deliver a letter to participants. Police also detained a group of about 20 protesters who refused to undergo a security check, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Separately, members of Turkey’s ethnic Uighur community also gathered in the city to protest China’s treatment of the Muslim minority. Chinese President Xi Jinping is among the summit participants.
Turkey has turned a sports center in Antalya into a temporary detention center in case of large-scale protests.
