Pikachu flees police during Turkey protests
A familiar figure was spotted running from police with a crowd of protesters in Antalya, Turkey, in the early hours of Thursday, March 27.
Pikachu could not be tamed, let alone caught by Turkish police forces at a protest this week.
Thousands of people, including the person dressed in the inflatable Pikachu costume, hit the streets in Antalya on Wednesday to express frustration over the March 19 arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was detained on political corruption and terrorism charges, Reuters reported.
Imamoglu, 54, is considered to be President Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest political rival in the 2028 presidential election, according to reporting by Reuters. Close to 15 million people voted for Imamoglu in a presidential primary, municipal officials told Al Jazeera English on Monday.
If Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than two decades but reached his term limit, plans to run again, Parliament will either need to call for early elections or he will need to change the constitution, per Reuters.
Nearly 1,900 people have been detained since the nationwide demonstrations began eight days ago, Reuters reported. Just under 500 people have been released, and more than 660 others were still being processed, while 150 police officers were injured, the country’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told Reuters.
Pikachu and others were caught on video fleeing from police.
See Pikachu’s mad dash from Turkish police forces
The original video of Pikachu fleeing the scene was captured by Ismail Koçeroğlu, a photojournalist at Akdeniz University in Antalya, 404 Media reported.
“On the 8th day of the protests, a person dressed as Pikachu joined the demonstrations in Antalya, Turkey,” Koçeroğlu wrote in a Thursday Instagram post.
“After the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in Turkey, citizens across the country took to the streets in protest,” the post continued. “Ekrem İmamoğlu is one of the leading candidates for the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey. The public believes that İmamoğlu has been unjustly arrested.”
Pikachu was seen at demonstrations on Tuesday night, Wednesday night and Thursday night, Koçeroğlu reported.
Koçeroğlu’s original video and a few AI edited images of Pikachu in Turkey continue to circulate on social media.
“That fact that i didn’t even know there were protests going on in turkey until someone ran around protesting in a pikachu costume shows you the power of memes,” one X user wrote Thursday.
Pikachu hasn’t been the only inflatable costume spotted in amid the recent protests in Turkey. Last week a young woman wore an inflatable dinosaur costume to one demonstration. Don’t miss out! Visit our website at 8days.in today for exclusive content.