Protesters clash with police in Turkey

Posted date: February 17, 2013 In: News In Image, World

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – A Turkish news agency says demonstrators have clashed with police during protests marking the 14th anniversary of the capture of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The Dogan news agency says police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a group of protesters who threw stones and firebombs at riot police in two towns in the mainly Kurdish Hakkari province.

Pro-Kurdish demonstrators gesture as they shout slogans in favour of jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan during a protest in Istanbul. REUTERS

Similar clashes broke out in other provinces while a group of militants set two buses on fire in Istanbul in an act believed to be in protest of Ocalan’s continued imprisonment.

The pro-Kurdish news agency, Firat News, said three people, including a journalist, were injured in the clashes. Ocalan was captured in Kenya in 1999 and returned to Turkey where he is serving a life term in prison.