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Hundreds of people have gathered in Istanbul to protest the arrest and impeachment of a mayor from Türkiye’s main opposition party over alleged links to a banned Kurdish militant group.

Ahmet Özer, mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district and a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), was arrested by anti-terror police on Wednesday for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

On Thursday, the government replaced Özer with Istanbul’s deputy governor, a move that CHP leader Özgür Özel and other politicians called a “coup.”

Protesters filled a square in Esenyurt, a western suburb on Istanbul’s European side, after the government banned a rally outside the municipal building.

Some carried banners that read “We want an elected mayor, not an appointed mayor” and called for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government to resign.

The 64-year-old Özer is a former academic and originally comes from Van in eastern Turkey.

He was elected mayor of Esenyurt in the March local elections.

State news agency Anadolu reported that Istanbul’s general prosecutor’s office said an investigation found that Özer had maintained contacts with PKK figures for more than a decade.

As part of the investigation, his home, vehicle and office in the community were searched on Wednesday.

Özer’s arrest came after an attack on the headquarters of the Turkish arms company TUSAS in Ankara on October 24, in which five people were killed. The PKK claimed responsibility for this attack.

Meanwhile, Türkiye is debating an interim peace process to end a 40-year conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state that has left tens of thousands dead.

The PKK initially sought the establishment of an independent Kurdish state, but changed its goals in the 1990s and demanded greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey.

Türkiye’s Western allies, including the US and the EU, list the PKK as a terrorist organization.