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Two Killed as Protesters Clash With Riot Cops in Turkey

Fears of further unrest as anniversary of anti-government demonstrations approaches.
Image: Riot police use water cannons and teargas to disperse people who were protesting the Soma mine disaster
Riot police use water cannons and tear gas to disperse people who were protesting the Soma mine disaster in Istanbul late on March 22, 2014. AP

A second person died on Friday after clashes between Turkish police and protesters in a working-class district of Istanbul, stirring fears of further unrest as the anniversary of last year's anti-government demonstrations approaches.

Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu called for calm "for the security of the nation" after protesters throwing petrol bombs and stones clashed with riot police in the city's Okmeydani district on Thursday. Last week's mine disaster has sparked renewed criticism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's decade-old rule.

A bystander, Ugur Kurt, who was attending a relative's funeral, was shot in the head apparently by a stray bullet as the violence flared on Thursday. His death in hospital overnight triggered renewed clashes in which a second person, as yet unidentified, was killed by a home-made grenade, Mutlu said.

— Reuters

Image: A woman holds her child during clashes in Istnbul
A woman holds her child as she tries to get away from clashes between riot police and protesters in the Okmeydani district of Istanbul on May 22, 2014. Tensions are high with the approach of the first anniversary of deadly nationwide anti-government protests and in the wake of an unprecedented mine disaster that claimed 301 lives last week.BULENT KILIC / AFP - Getty Images