Off the wire
• Finnish residents protest against immigration over teenager girl rape  • Indian military says IS a live threat  • Roundup: Industry experts eye growing Chinese investments in Italy  • Well-known Afghan youth shot dead in Kandahar  • Laos' Nam Khan 2 Hydropower project construction completed  • 3rd LD-Writethru-China Focus: China pledges resolute measures to root out poverty by 2020  • News Analysis: Three years on, Palestinian bid to UN has no positive results on peace process  • 2nd LD: China pledges resolute measures to root out poverty by 2020  • Standings of WCBA League  • Chinese college hosts winter sport events  
You are here: 　 Home

Protests erupt in Turkey over killing of Kurdish lawyer

Xinhua, November 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Turkish police on Saturday used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to break up crowds in Istanbul who were protesting against the killing of a top Kurdish lawyer.

The assassination of Tahir Elci, also the head of the Bar Association in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakir, has sparked anger among the public in the country. In many provinces, people flocked to the streets to stage protests.

More than 1,000 people, among them lawyers and parliamentarians, gathered in Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue. The riot police used water cannons when they tried to march toward the iconic Taksim Square and then resorted to rubber bullets and tear gas when they reunited to read a press release.

Police sent reinforcements as the protesters refused to leave.

Elci was killed in the Sur town of Diyarbakir in a gun attack following a press meeting early Saturday, and two policemen were also killed in the attack.

Elci defended peace between Kurds and Turks. He lately drew criticism for saying in a television program that "Kurdish outlawed Workers' Party (PKK) is not a terrorist organization."

The peace process between the Turkish government and the PKK collapsed in July when fighting renewed between them. Endit