ANKARA: Turkish police fired tear gas and plastic bullets at thousands of people who gathered in Istanbul Tuesday to protest the death of a 22-year-old demonstrator in southern Turkey.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 people rallied on the outskirts of Taksim Square, scene of unprecedented mass anti-government protests in June, and shouted slogans including “Taksim will be the graveyard of fascism”, a journalist witnessed.
Police prevented the protesters from entering the square, before pushing them back using tear gas and plastic bullets.
The tear gas disrupted a football match between the national under-21s and their Swedish counterparts taking place near the square, the Dogan news agency reported.
Ahmet Atakan died in hospital on Monday night after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister during clashes between police and around 150 protesters in the southeastern city of Antakya in Hatay province near the Syrian border, Dogan said.
Local officials disputed that account, saying Atakan had died after falling from a rooftop where he had been throwing stones at police.
In a statement, the police also said the youngster had died in a fall.
A preliminary autopsy found Atakan died of “generalised trauma” and “cerebral haemorrhaging”, Dogan reported.
His death is the sixth recorded in protests since demonstrations against the Islamic-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen as increasingly authoritarian, began in June.
There were reports of clashes between demonstrators and police in other cities across Turkey, and Atakan’s funeral provoked fresh violence in Hatay.
Atakan was part of a protest against the recent death of another demonstrator.
Protests were also planned yesterday against police violence in Ankara, where for several days university students have clashed with police over a municipal project to build a road across part of the campus of the Middle East Technical University.
AFP
