Police use tear gas to disperse a group of demonstrators in central Istanbul Tuesday. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL
Rage against the election ban on 12 independent candidates poured out into the streets of Istanbul, Diyabakır, Van and Hakkari on Tuesday, drawing a harsh response from police.
Thousands of people gathered at Istanbul’s Taksim Square to stage a sit-in strike and then marched to the Aksaray district, where clashes with police broke out. Some protesters who tried to throw stones at police in Taksim were stopped by others, but the situation became more heated in Aksaray.
Stones were thrown at police and nearby buildings, and Molotov cocktails were tossed at some stores. Many injuries were reported and hundreds of people were affected by tear gas. Protesters who remained at the scene after the clashes began held another sit-up strike at a “civil disobedience tent” set up in Aksaray by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP. Police surrounded the strikers and kept newcomers from joining them.
The protest was sparked after the Supreme Election Board, or YSK, issued a decision late Monday disqualifying 12 candidates from the June 12 elections based on past convictions and legal technicalities. Among the candidates were seven backed by the BDP.
The demonstration at Taksim was attended by BDP deputies Sabahat Tuncel and Ufuk Uras alongside candidates Levent Tüzel, Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Mustafa Avcı. Other parties from the Labor, Freedom and Democracy Bloc, in which the BDP is the leading party, and representatives of several nongovernmental organizations were also represented.
Riots in southeastern Turkey
Clashes meanwhile broke out in Diyarbakır in front of the courthouse where a group had gathered to protest the ongoing trial of the Kurdish Communities Union, or KCK, the alleged urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Many people were wounded during the clashes and transferred to hospitals. A 15-year-old protester named Remzi Çalı was shot and wounded by the police, according to the pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency, which is sympathetic to the BDP and often carries announcements from the PKK.
Many buildings and vehicles were damaged in the conflict, including the municipality building. The police confiscated a backpack full of Molotov cocktails, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Stores were shuttered in Van and in Hakkari’s Yüksekova district in protest of the YSK decision. Protesters who staged a sit-in at an intersection were gassed by the police, causing more clashes to erupt.
BDP-led protests in the streets of Van also drew police intervention, causing additional clashes between the two parties. Protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police, who responded with tear gas and pressurized water. Gendarmerie forces were sent to the city as the conflict spread. Deputy candidate Aysel Tuğluk and Van Mayor Bekir Kaya were allegedly battered by the police, according to local news sources.
Similar clashes and injuries were also reported Tuesday in Mersin province and Şırnak’s Cizre district. Incidents in all mentioned cities were ongoing as the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press.