Opposition mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, whose bus was stoned by supporters of the government camp, gave his political interpretation of what happened last Sunday in Erzurum.

“They didn’t throw stones at me, they threw stones at people, they threw stones at democracy. Let them throw stones, we will answer with roses,” the mayor of Istanbul from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said today.

Nine people were injured when hundreds of people threw stones at the mayor of Istanbul last Sunday in the city of Erzurum, a week before the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections. Imamoglu’s bodyguards were forced to remove him, as they believed that he and his accomplices were in danger.

Ekrem İmamoğlu complained that while the assembled crowd was throwing stones at him, during his speech, when he climbed onto the roof of the bus in which he travels around the country, the police officers present at the scene did nothing to stop him. He spoke of “provocations” and emphasized that the attack had nothing to do with the inhabitants of Erzurum.

Erdogan, in his speech in Edirne, accused Imamoglu of causing the incident, and stated that “they are trying to arrange provocations themselves and tarnish the reputation of our cities. They will not succeed in drawing our people into their dirty games.”