Monday, March 24, 2008 | The Associated Press
ANKARA: The police on Monday broke up a protest by hundreds of masked and stone-throwing Kurdish demonstrators during the fifth straight day of clashes that have killed two people and wounded dozens, news reports said.
The riot police fired rounds of tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd and were chasing the protesters in the town of Yuksekova, in Hakkari Province, the private Dogan news agency said.
An elderly woman displaying a picture of imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdulah Ocalan during a demonstration in Istanbul, Turkey on Sunday. It was the second day of clashes in Yuksekova, where a demonstrator was shot and killed Sunday. The authorities have denied responsibility in the killing, but the protesters shouted slogans Monday demanding the resignation of the governor of Hakkari.
The protesters, covering their faces with red scarves, threw stones at the riot police, who were using plastic shields to defend themselves and wearing gas masks and helmets. Turkish soldiers were watching the clashes from a distance, television footage from the news agency showed.
Another Kurdish demonstrator was killed in the eastern city of Van on Saturday.
There also have been clashes in Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir Provinces since Thursday in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.
Most of the clashes erupted during or after celebrations of the Kurdish spring festival of Nowruz, which often is used by some Kurds as an occasion to rally for Kurdish autonomy.
On Sunday, clashes left about 20 people wounded in Yuksekova, and the police rounded up 45 people, the authorities said. Three police officers were slightly wounded in a small bomb explosion.
The police broke up the protest after the demonstrators chanted illegal slogans in support of Kurdish guerrillas and of the imprisoned rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan, private NTV television said.
The police also used water cannons to disperse small groups who set up barricades in back streets while soldiers responded to stone-throwing protesters with truncheons, said Dogan, the news agency.
The soldiers marched back to their barracks after the incidents, shouting slogans to emphasize their readiness to defend the country, Dogan said.
On Sunday, the police detained dozens of Kurdish protesters who had smashed windows of cars and shops in the Aegean port city of Izmir. Clashes also occurred in several other western cities.