ISTANBUL: Riot police used tear gas to disperse pockets of anti-government demonstrators in several Turkish cities for a third night and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan vowed to stamp out what he described as efforts to “create chaos”.
Officers backed by armoured vehicles and water cannon played cat and mouse into the early hours yesterday with groups of youths in the streets of Kadikoy, on the Asian side of Istanbul, dismantling their makeshift barricades of garbage and rubble.
There were similar protests in Ankara and reports on social media of unrest in the Mediterannean coastal cities of Antalya and Antakya.
Protests intensified this week after a 22-year old man, Ahmet Atakan, died during clashes with police in Antakya, near the border with Syria, early on Tuesday.
“We are protesting the death of Ahmet. We won’t stop the resistance until there’s justice. The government knows we won’t give up, that’s why the police are here,” said one protester in his early 20s in Kadikoy.
REUTERS
