Newspaper men detained for ‘noise pollution’ while selling papers in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Two men selling newspapers Aydınlık and Birgün have been detained by security officials for creating noise pollution, according to daily Radikal.

A left-wing news portal reported the incident today, identifying the detainees as Hasan Ortatepe and Burak Butur. Butur was selling Birgün and Ortatepe was selling daily Aydınlık at the Taksim subway exit when they were detained by police officers, according to the report.

They were each fined 88 Turkish Liras for causing noise pollution. Ortatepe was previously detained in November 2012 over similar charges.

Uğur Vardan, a daily Radikal columnist, referred to the Aydınlık newspaper street sellers in his column prior to this latest incident, saying that the newspaper men were chanting anti-government slogans. One of the slogans particularly targeted the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) foreign policies, saying the AKP “no longer has friends even to drink tea with.”