Istanbul, Turkey - A person dressed in an inflatable Pikachu costume was spotted fleeing from police as thousands protested the arrest of Turkish opposition leader and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

As thousands of peaceful protesters fled from increasingly brutal police crackdowns, Pikachu was spotted running at full speed through the streets of Istanbul as protests entered their ninth day.

"On the 8th day of the protests, a person dressed as Pikachu joined the demonstrations in Antalya, Turkey," said photojournalist Ismail Koceroglu in a post on Instagram.

Koceroglu captured the first footage of Pikachu fleeing police on Thursday before following up with a clip the next day showing that the Pokémon legend had survived and was ready to fight another day.

While the incident seems humorous on the surface, it comes as protests against the sham arrest of Istanbul Mayor and Turkish Opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu face increasingly violent police suppression.

İmamoğlu was on March 18 arrested on trumped-up charges of corruption and terrorism. The biggest political rival to Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan in the upcoming 2028 election, İmamoğlu's arrest has triggered a huge outpouring of anger across the formerly democratic country.

Reuters reports that nearly 1,900 people have been detained since demonstrations began, only 500 of which are known to have been subsequently released.

"After the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in Turkey, citizens across the country took to the streets in protest," Koceroglu captioned a post of Pikachu the following day.

"Ekrem İmamoğlu is one of the leading candidates for the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey. The public believes that İmamoğlu has been unjustly arrested."