ISTANBUL >> Prosecutors in Turkey requested up to three years’ imprisonment for 74 people detained for taking part in the country’s largest protests in more than a decade, pro-government media reported Friday.

In the first indictment against alleged protesters, the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office asked a court for jail terms between six months and three years, the Haberturk TV channel said. The defendants, who are aged 20 to 40 and mostly university students, are accused of participating in illegal demonstrations and failing to disperse following police warnings.

Seven of those in the indictment are journalists who were detained at home this week.

When hundreds of thousands took to the streets last week following the arrest of Istanbul’s opposition Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, bans on protests and marches were implemented in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

The indictment also calls for political bans that would prevent those convicted from voting or standing for public office. The cases are due before court in mid-April.

Imamoglu, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was jailed pending trial on corruption charges that many see as politically motivated. The government insists the judiciary is independent and free of political interference.

Also on Friday, two journalists were detained in dawn raids in Istanbul, their outlets Etkin News Agency and the Evrensel news website reported. They were the latest to be arrested in early morning sweeps that have targeted political activists, trade unionists and journalists.

Reporters Without Borders condemned the journalists’ arrests. “There is no end to the detentions of journalists,” its Turkey representative Erol Onderoglu said. The Turkish Journalists’ Union called for the news media to be allowed to do its work and an “end to these unlawful detentions.”

Turkey’s broadcasting authority issued a 10-day airwave ban on Sozcu TV on Thursday, as well as fines and program suspensions to other opposition channels.

A Swedish newspaper said Friday that one of its journalists was detained while entering Turkey to cover the protests. Dagens ETC, citing the Swedish Foreign Ministry, said Joakim Medin had been sent to Maltepe prison in Istanbul.

Medin was arrested when he landed in Istanbul around noon on Thursday, the paper said, adding that he was wanted in Turkey for unknown reasons. According to Medin’s website, he has traveled to northern Syria and wrote a book about Kurdish militants there who Ankara considers terrorists. He has also written a book on authoritarianism under Erdogan.

‘Children being treated like terrorists’

Courthouses across Turkey are dealing with a spike in cases as a result of the protests. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Thursday that nearly 1,900 people had been arrested since March 19.

Anxious families have been gathering outside court buildings to await the fate of their loved ones, who police can hold for four days.

“The youth we call Generation Z are more likely to participate in these protests. They sense that something is wrong,” Savas Ozbek, whose daughter was detained Sunday, told ANKA News Agency outside Ankara Courthouse late Thursday.