Hundreds of Kurdish protesters armed with stones battled police for a fourth day in southeastern Turkey yesterday, authorities and news reports said.
Clashes during celebrations of the Kurdish spring festival of Noruz have killed one Kurdish protester and injured dozens of people.
Police broke up a crowd of stone-throwing protesters in the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari Province yesterday, firing into the air and using tear gas and truncheons, private Dogan news agency said.
The crowd, mostly members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society party which faces closure on charges of ties to Kurdish rebels, was protesting the killing of a Kurdish man in the eastern city of Van.
The man died at a hospital early yesterday after being shot during clashes with police on Saturday, local authorities said.
Also yesterday, thousands of Kurds gathered in Istanbul to celebrate the Noruz festival.
Meanwhile, a policeman and two other protesters remain hospitalized in serious condition after police detained 130 people in Van after Kurdish men hurled rocks at riot police on Saturday.
The police protected themselves with plastic shields, television film from the Cihan news agency showed.
Police later fired tear gas to disperse the crowd and beat some of the protesters with truncheons, the Cihan footage showed.
Several women in traditional Kurdish outfits were sitting on a sidewalk, encircled by police officers. An officer kicked one of the women, the film showed.
Mehmet Salih Kesmez, the police chief of Van Province near the border with Iran, said 38 protesters and 15 police officers were injured.
Protesters had gathered early on Saturday in the city of Van to celebrate the Noruz festival. The group soon started chanting slogans supporting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), police said.
The PKK has waged a guerrilla war against the government for Kurdish autonomy since 1984.
Riot police intervened, ordering the group to end the celebration, but the group continued chanting slogans, police said.
"We warned those people who chanted slogans for the terrorist organization," Kesmez said.
He said the police moved in after protesters refused to disperse and threw stones at officers.
The PKK wants political and cultural autonomy for Kurds in southeastern Turkey. Some Kurds use the festival to highlight their demand for autonomy.
Skirmishes broke out during similar celebrations across Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeastern region on Friday.
Noruz is traditionally celebrated on March 21.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese