Children face off in protests
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Doğan News Agency
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 21, 2009 00:00
MERSİN - Children are slowly entering the fray in street demonstrations, with children taking sides among protesters and police officers and throwing stones at each other in two recent rallies.
In a demonstration Sunday in the Mediterranean province of Mersin, around 150 people, most of whom were children, protested against the imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
The demonstrators pushed garbage containers onto the street to erect roadblocks and burned tires before throwing rocks at the police officers on the scene. As the officers tried to protect themselves from the rocks, another group of children sided with police and threw rocks at the demonstrators.
Water cannons were used to disperse the crowd, and a bystander was seen slapping one of the protesters for throwing rocks. Similarly, during a rally in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır last Friday, a group of 300 people, most of whom were children, demonstrated against the recent police raids that targeted the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party for links to the PKK. As children among the protesters started throwing stones, another group of children on the police side threw stones back at the demonstrating children. While the police used teargas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, around 100 children on the police’s side helped the officers tear down the roadblocks erected by the demonstrators. There were no detentions, but vehicles were damaged.
The demonstrators pushed garbage containers onto the street to erect roadblocks and burned tires before throwing rocks at the police officers on the scene. As the officers tried to protect themselves from the rocks, another group of children sided with police and threw rocks at the demonstrators.
Water cannons were used to disperse the crowd, and a bystander was seen slapping one of the protesters for throwing rocks. Similarly, during a rally in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır last Friday, a group of 300 people, most of whom were children, demonstrated against the recent police raids that targeted the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party for links to the PKK. As children among the protesters started throwing stones, another group of children on the police side threw stones back at the demonstrating children. While the police used teargas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, around 100 children on the police’s side helped the officers tear down the roadblocks erected by the demonstrators. There were no detentions, but vehicles were damaged.