What the absurdist imagery from Istanbul teaches us about protest in the digital era

The protests in Istanbul over the past few days, sparked by the detention on March 19 of Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the chief political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have taken an unexpected turn with the emergence of surreal, meme-worthy visuals.

Among these, a Pikachu-costumed protester fleeing riot police and AI-generated images of the Joker joining the demonstrations have gone viral, transforming a tense political confrontation into a global spectacle.

This phenomenon raises critical questions about the nature of protest in the digital age. Is this a spontaneous, organic outpouring of absurdist humour or a regime-change operation leveraging hyperreality? How do we interpret such protests in an era where deepfakes, AI-generated imagery and viral memes blur the line between reality and fiction?

How does digital spectacle reshape political resistance?

When Pikachu joins the protest, you know that it’s game over for Erdogan! #Istanbul #Turkiye pic.twitter.com/zNxjSpgDku— S.L. Kanthan (@Kanthan2030) March 27, 2025

Viral spectacle

The detention of Istanbul’s mayor on corruption charges – widely perceived as politically motivated – triggered mass demonstrations, with nearly 1,900 arrests reported by Thursday. The protests reflect deep societal fractures, with İmamoğlu symbolising resistance against Erdoğan’s authoritarian rule.

Amid water cannons and riot police, a demonstrator in an inflatable Pikachu costume became an unlikely icon of defiance. The imagery juxtaposing a cartoonish Pokémon with...

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