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Tens of thousands of screaming supporters massed Thursday outside the offices of Istanbul’s popular mayor, enraged by a prison sentence that could end his future as a leader of Turkey’s Islamic movement.
Authorities deployed armored personnel carriers near City Hall and blocked off the nearby highway with police to contain the 30,000-member demonstration for Mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Wednesday, an appeals court upheld a 10-month sentence against Erdogan for inciting religious hatred by reading a poem at a rally in the southeastern city of Siirt last year.
Erdogan is to be stripped of his position and banned from ever again holding public office.
