ISTANBUL — Police in riot gear looked on as several hundred supporters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) gathered in Istanbul’s Besiktas district Thursday for a demonstration against ongoing state pressure on the party.

Surrounded by armored vehicles and trucks mounted with water cannons, speakers condemned the removal of two HDP deputies from parliament earlier this month, flouting a ban on demonstrations issued by the Istanbul governor’s office Monday.

The rally was part of the HDP’s March for Democracy, which was launched Monday from two starting points on opposite ends of Turkey in the southeastern province of Hakkari and the northwestern province of Edirne, where the party’s former co-chair, Selahattin Demirtas, has been jailed since 2016 on terror-related charges. Both marches are “symbolic,” according to party members who are shuttling participants between urban centers until the two groups are scheduled to unite in Ankara Saturday for a final demonstration.

Arife Cinar, a member of the HDP’s Women’s Congress, marched in Edirne and Istanbul this week. She said police detained about a dozen marchers in Edirne, and some security force interventions resulted in the use of tear gas and rubber bullets, but the demonstration proceeded.