Turkish security forces fire on protest in southeast, one dead

Turkish security forces killed one person and wounded seven on Friday when they fired on a group of people protesting against construction of a new gendarmerie outpost in Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkey, security sources said.        

The incident happened in the village of Kayacik in the Lice district of Diyarbakir province, the sources said. It was not immediately clear why the protesters were opposing the new outpost.        
Earlier, Turkish local media reported that police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters in Ankara, leading to four arrests.

The protesters erected barricades to cut off traffic, while Turkish police came to disperse the crowd.

Nearly three weeks of protests were sparked by a violent police crackdown on peaceful activists on May 31, with thousands expressing discontent over what they say are Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian ways. 

Erdogan who has shepherded Turkey to an economic boom and raised the country's international profile, rejects the charge and cites his broad support base.
 
The government has dismissed protesters' general calls for a more pluralistic society and has blamed the protests on a foreign-led conspiracy involving bankers and the media meant to stop Turkey on its tracks.

It has also vowed to go after them.


LBCI/REUTERS