More than 30 people were charged and jailed this week in Turkey for protesting the ouster of three pro-Kurdish mayors from the country’s southeast on “terrorism” charges, the Turkish Interior Ministry said today.

A reporter for the news website 10Haber was also detained on Saturday night for a series of posts about last week’s ouster of the district’s mayor Esenyurt of Istanbul, who was accused by authorities of links to the PKK, his lawyer said.

More than 250 people have been arrested in total since Monday for taking part in illegal demonstrations and targeting members of the security forces. 33 of them were charged and jailed, 37 were placed under judicial supervision and another three under house arrest, the interior ministry said.

Monday’s replacement by state-appointed governors of three pro-Kurdish mayors, including those of the major cities of Mardin and Batman, sparked outrage from residents and condemnations from the Council of Europe and human rights groups.

The three ousted elected officials are members of DEM, the main pro-Kurdish party and the third force in the Turkish parliament.

Authorities immediately banned all gatherings in several provinces in the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeast in an attempt to quell the protests.

However, images released mid-week in Batman showed police being targeted by protesters and being met with water cannons.