News / Turkey

Turkish forces arrest 200 May Day protesters, kill one

Sunday, 01 May 2016 9:27 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 01 May 2016 10:14 PM ]

People walk past a fire barricade during a May Day rally in Okmeydani, a district of Istanbul on May 1, 2016. (AFP)

One person has been killed and at least 200 others have been arrested in Turkey’s crackdown on May Day demonstrations in Istanbul.

Turkish police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the unsanctioned protesters who were attempting to gather in the iconic Taksim Square on Sunday.

According to the city’s governor, 40 Molotov cocktails, 17 hand grenades and scores of fireworks were seized during the arrests which were made all over the city as people attempted to march towards Taksim.

“Some illegal groups who want to damage the peace and safety of our people attempted illegal marches and demonstrations primarily around Taksim square ... under the pretext of May Day celebrations," the governor's office said.

Usually a bustling commercial hub, the square was deserted save for anti-riot police. An interlocking grid of barriers barred entry from all sides to the area.

*A man walks as Turkish police officers patrol on Istiklal avenue during a May Day rally in Istanbul, on May 1, 2016. (AFP)*

A fifty-year-old man died after being hit by a police water cannon vehicle while attempting to cross the street near the demonstration.

Several people were also arrested as police used water cannons against pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) members attempting to hold a protest in the city’s Bakirkoy region.

*Demonstrators throw Molotov cocktails and shoot firecrackers during a May Day rally in the Okmeydani neighborhood of Istanbul on May 1, 2016. (AFP)*

The governor’s office also said that some 25,000 security forces had been deployed in the city to halt unauthorized protests.

May Day marks a bloody violence on May 1, 1977, during which unknown gunmen opened fire on a peaceful crowd, killing dozens of people in Taksim.

The crackdowns come amid a series of attacks blamed on both Daesh Takfiri terrorists and PKK in the southern regions.

Ten police officers were injured in bomb blast in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeastern town of Dicle, security sources said.

*Police forensic experts inspect the scene after an explosion in front of the city's police headquarters in Gaziantep, Turkey May 1, 2016. (Reuters)*

Earlier, at least four Turkish soldiers lost their lives and several others sustained injuries during separate attacks against government forces in the embattled southeastern provinces of Mardin and Gaziantep.

A ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015 and attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has been conducting offensives against the positions of the group in northern Iraq and Syria.

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