From: Tabe Kooistra (tabe@ozgurluk.xs4all.nl)
Date: 15 December 2000 04:15 uur
From: Press Agancy Ozgurluk <ozgurluk@xs4all.nl>
Police clamp down on prisoners in Ankara
ANKARA, Dec 12: At least five people were injured and 66 were detained on
Tuesday when Turkish riot police violently clamped down on two rival
groups of protesters demonstrating here over controversial prison
reforms, the Anatolia news agency reported.
<Our coment: all people arrested are non-fascist>
Violence erupted when police refused to allow some 300 protestors to
march from Kizilay square in downtown Ankara to the nearby justice
ministry to protest planned prison reform, which has prompted a
nationwide hunger strike in the country's troubled jails.
When the group, mainly prisoners' relatives, refused to disperse,
truncheon-wielding police officers moved in on the protestors and used
water cannons and tear gas to end the protest, Anatolia said.
Footage broadcast on the all-news NTV channel showed riot police hitting
and kicking protestors, including women, who had fallen down during the
melee.
Two journalists, two police officers and an unspecified number of
protestors were injured during the clashes, Anatolia added.
Meanwhile, a second group of protestors, making the signs of the infamous
extreme-right "Grey Wolves" youth movement and chanting slogans in favour
of the prison reform, attacked the anti-reform protestors, who
retaliated.
The two groups threw stones and attacked each other with metal bars for
two hours, after which riot police, helped by dogs, moved in to separate
them, the agency said.
The windows of some shops, public buildings and cars were also smashed
during the fighting, while some shopkeepers opted to close their business
for the day, Anatolia said.
NTV said that officers once again resorted to water cannons and even
fired shots into the air to restore calm.
Once police had arrived, the anti-reform protestors took refuge in the
buildings of two minor left-wing parties, whose windows were stoned by
the other group.
Police later searched the party buildings and detained 66 people, the
report said.
Tension over the government's much-disputed prison reform has been
increasing since more than 200 prisoners went on a hunger strike 54 days
ago to protest the plans.
The plan involves the opening of new jails with cells for up to three
people, replacing the existing large dormitories that sleep up to 60
prisoners.
The prisoners fear that being split up will socially and physically
isolate them and may lead to maltreatment and torture.
Source: AFP
--
Press Agency Ozgurluk
In Support of the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey
http://www.ozgurluk.org
DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc
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