Pictures circulated on social media showed the police resorting to water cannons to disperse a group of protesters who chased the bus and threw stones at it.
Angry protesters Sunday threw stones at the Istanbul mayor’s bus while he was on an election tour in a conservative district ahead of general elections scheduled for next weekend.
Pictures published by the office of the opposition mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, showed the bus’s windows smashed while it was stopping in the eastern city of Erzurum. Imamoglu was giving a speech from the roof of the bus when he was forced to take cover and leave.
Pictures circulated on social media showed the police resorting to water cannons to disperse a group of protesters who chased the bus and threw stones at it.
Imamoglu described the incident as a provocation and demanded explanations from local officials. Turkish media reports said at least seven people were slightly injured.
The region is dominated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted party. The incident highlighted tensions surrounding parliamentary and presidential polls next Sunday.
Imamoglu is campaigning in support of opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The hugely popular mayor of Istanbul has been promised to take over as vice president if Kilicdaroglu wins.
Opinion polls indicate close support for Kilicdaroglu and Erdogan a week before the polls.
