2 Women Arrested for Hand Gestures at Turkish Leader

The Turkish authorities have detained two women who they believe made derogatory hand gestures at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erodgan in an anti-government protest Sunday.

Police described the charges as “insulting a statesman,” AFP reports. Erdogan was en route to an election rally in the western city of Izmir when he reacted strongly to a woman in the crowd apparently making “ugly” gestures at him. A second woman was accused of doing the same from a balcony. He said that he would have understood “if it was a man, but I do not understand how a woman could do it,” AFP reports.

Erdogan has been buffeted by on-going street protests since December.

[AFP]