Second person dies from injuries in Istanbul protest, governor says -...

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A second person died from injuries sustained during protests in Istanbul overnight following the fatal shooting of a bystander the day before, the provincial governor said on Friday.

"Two citizens were seriously injured last night from a fragmentation grenade. Unfortunately, one of them died today," Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters.

Mutlu also said security forces were working on identifying the deceased. Eight other people were injured during clashes late on Thursday, but none of them was in critical condition.

The bystander, 30-year-old Ugur Kurt, was attending a relative's funeral on Thursday when he was shot as police clashed with protesters throwing petrol bombs and stones in Okmeydani district, which has seen frequent unrest.

The violence comes almost a year after protests in central Istanbul triggered a summer of nationwide anti-government demonstrations that challenged the decade-long rule of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Thursday's disturbances began when a group of some 10 to 15 people began chanting slogans about a youth, Berkin Elvan, who died in March after clashes with police, and about a mine disaster last week in which 301 people died.

Kurt died of his wounds in hospital late on Thursday, prompting renewed anger on the streets.

"A fragmentation grenade was thrown at security forces on Thursday evening, injuring two citizens, one of them heavily, one police chief and six police officers," Istanbul police said on its website.

Okmeydani is a working-class district in central Istanbul that is home to members of Turkey's Alevi religious minority, who follow an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, unlike Turkey's Sunni majority, and often attracts left-wing protests.

Elvan, 15, died after nine months in a coma from a head wound sustained during an anti-government protest in Okmeydani. Thousands clashed with police in Istanbul when he was buried.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told parliament that prosecutors would investigate Kurt's death.

REUTERS