ISTANBUL — Turkey’s police rounded up more than 200 people, mostly Kurds, as the country on Monday mourned the dozens killed in a bombing attack near an Istanbul soccer stadium.
The interior ministry issued a statement saying 235 people were detained in 11 cities for their alleged connections to a terrorist organization.
The detainees were affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and a Kurdish umbrella organization, and included individuals deemed guilty of spreading terrorist propaganda on social media, the statement said.
The majority of those arrested, according to local media reports documenting the raids, were members of a pro-Kurdish party that was elected to the Turkish Parliament in 2014. Among them were two provincial leaders and an Ankara representative of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP.
The ministry statement did not specify whether those rounded up were suspected of direct involvement in two bombings outside and near a stadium in Istanbul on Saturday night that killed 44 people and wounded more than 149 others, according to the latest tally.
A violent Turkey-based Kurdish faction that is viewed by authorities and analysts as a PKK offshoot claimed responsibility for the attack.
Health Minister Recep Akdag said Monday that the dead included 36 police officers and eight civilians. Funeral ceremonies were held in Istanbul with top officials in attendance.
The attack following a Turkish Super League match caused deep shock in the soccer-loving nation and triggered patriotic demonstrations denouncing terrorism.
Taxi drivers drove around the recently inaugurated Besiktas stadium, named after the team and neighborhood, waving Turkish flags.
Scores of demonstrators marched near Istanbul’s main police station to denounce the twin bombings in a rally organized by a union.
“Damn the PKK” and “We don’t want the PKK in parliament” chanted the crowd, calling for the reintroduction of the death penalty.
Demonstrator Gulay Firat said she wants justice for the attacks’ widows, widowers and orphans.
“No one can tear this country apart,” Firat told The Associated Press.
Further demonstrations were planned for later Monday and the U.S. consulate urged its citizens to avoid large gatherings.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish authorities accuse the Peoples’ Democratic Party of supporting terrorism and having ties to PKK, which Ankara and its allies categorize as a terrorist organization.