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Turkish police clash with Kurds marching
in solidarity with the political prisoners on hunger
strike
30.10.2012 |
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Kurdish people are taking to the streets Tuesday in
solidarity with the political prisoners on hunger
strike .
Photo:
ANF- Firat News Agency.
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Kurdish protesters clashed with police on Tuesday
near a prison in the Kurdish region in southeastern
Turkey (northern Kurdistan) where some inmates are
on a hunger strike. Photo: ANF- Firat News Agency.
October
30, 2012
AMED/DIYARBAKIR, Turkey's Kurdish
region,— Kurdish protesters clashed with police on
Tuesday near a prison in the Kurdish region in
southeastern Turkey (northern Kurdistan) where some
inmates are on a hunger strike, witnesses said.
Several thousand people joined a protest march to a
prison in the city of Diyarbakir, and police used
tear gas and water cannon to drive back groups of
demonstrators who threw stones and firebombs from
side streets. Shops were shuttered and many families
did not send their children to school in line with
calls for a boycott.
Turkey's Anadolu news agency also reported a clash
between a group of Kurdish protesters in Istanbul.
There was no report of any casualties.
Hundreds of Kurdish prisoners in dozens of Turkish
jails are on a hunger strike to demand increased
rights for Kurds and improved jail conditions for
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is being
held on an island near Istanbul. Most of the
prisoners are jailed for alleged links to the
rebels, who are deemed terrorists by Turkey and its
Western allies.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says
rebels are orchestrating the hunger strike and that
the government will not bow to blackmail. The
government has sought to reconcile with disaffected
members of Turkey's Kurdish minority, but activists
who seek autonomy in the mostly Kurdish southeast
and say state concessions have not gone far enough.
Kurdish people are taking
to the streets Tuesday in solidarity with the
political prisoners on hunger strike
Demonstrations and marches are being staged Tuesday
in all Kurdish cities and many others with Kurdish
population on the 49th day of the hunger strike by
Kurdish political prisoners. The Peace and Democracy
(BDP) had declared 30 October as "day of resistance"
and called on all Kurdish people to bring life in
the country to a standstill and to join actions in
support of prisoners on hunger strike.
AMED/DIYARBAKIR: Life has been brought to a
standstill in the main Kurdish city Diyarbakır where
almost all shopkeepers have taken down the shutters,
mass transportation vehicles don’t provide service,
municipality employees not at work and students
boycotting schools. Mass marches are expected in the
city in the afternoon when also the BDP is planning
to hold its weekly meeting in front of Diyarbakır E
Type Prison where BDP member politicians are staging
a hunger strike for 49 days. Although the Governor
of Diyarbakır denied permission for the group
meeting there,www.ekurd.net
BDP co-chairs say they are determined to hold the
meeting in front of the prison. As thousands of
people have already gathered in areas to march to
the prison, police forces have intensely surrounded
the prison with TOMA (riot control) vehicles and
blocked all the ways to the prison. The mass in the
district of Bağlar was severely attacked when they
wanted to continue their march to the prison.
ŞIRNAK: Thousands of people were attacked by police
when they started a march in response to BDP’s call
for “mass resistance” on the 49th day of the hunger
strike by Kurdish political prisoners. The city has
turned into battlefield as people didn’t stop their
march despite the brutal police attack with intense
tear gas. Clashes have expanded to all neighborhoods
in the city.
HAKKARİ: Tens of thousands of people have started a
march in Hakkari’s Yüksekova district. The march
will be followed by a press conference.
VAN: Thousands of people led by BDP Van provincial
organization started a march to F Type Prison where
Mayor Bekir Kaya, BDP former provincial chair Cüneyt
Caniş, Edremit Mayor Abdulkerim Sayan and 15 other
politicians are joining the strike. The city is
witnessing the greatest protest action so far as no
service is provided by shops and mass transport
vehicles and schools are boycotted by students.
ISTANBUL: A number of people have gathered at the
Okmeydanı which has been surrounded by police forces
with panzers and riot control vehicles. The
demonstration is also joined by BDP Istanbul MP
Sebahat Tuncel and BDP provincial co-chairs Asiye
Kolçak and Ali Rıza Bilgili.
MARDİN: Hundreds of people in Mardin’s Nusaybin
district were attacked by police when they started a
march to the Newroz Square. A person named Burhan
Bilgiç was severely wounded when a tear gas hit him
on the eye. Clashes between demonstrators and police
continue.
KIZILTEPE: Police attacked the hunger strike tent at
Mehmet Sincar Park early in the morning. The people
were attacked with gas bombs and the tent was seized
by police.
MERSİN: Shops have been closed in all densely
Kurdish populated districts of the southern province
of Mersin where students also boycotted schools in
support to the “mass resistance”. Marches are
expected in many neighborhoods in the afternoon.
Demonstrators will leave a black wreath in front of
the AKP building.
CUKUROVA: The Kurdish people in Cukurova region are
also supporting the "mass resistance" with press
conferences, marches and sit-in actions. Mass
demonstrations are expected in Adana, Ceyhan,
Dörtyol, Tarsus and İskenderun in the afternoon.
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