Turkish police clash with PKK supporters in several provinces

Dozens of people were detained in the demonstrations held in the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir, Batman and Sirnak, eastern province of Hakkari, southern province of Mersin, Turkish news agencies reported.Â

Brandishing Ocalan portraits and chanting anti-government slogans, about 3,000 people, gathered in Diyarbakir to hold a march. Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir and lawmaker Aysel Tugluk, both DTP members, were among the protesters.

Police warned the crowd to disperse on grounds that the demonstration was unauthorized. The protestors, some wearing masks, pelted security forces with stones and the police responded with tear gas, water cannons and paint bullets.

At least 10 demonstrators were detained, police said, while hospital sources said at least 15 people, among them policemen and journalists, were injured.

There were also violent protests in Hakkari province, where the demonstrators set bonfires and barricaded streets, shouting slogans in favor of Ocalan and the PKK, the agencies said. At least four people were detained, Dogan News Agency reported.

One person was injured during unrest in the town of Idil, in neighboring Sirnak province, it added.

Ocalan, the leader of the terror organization PKK, is currently serving life sentence in a prison in Turkey.