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Friday, January 28, 2011

There are protests in Turkey, too

Still against the government, but against Islamist influence:
Students demonstrating against Turkey's Islamist-rooted conservative government on Thursday clashed with riot police in Istanbul and Ankara.

Police dispersed about 100 students in Ankara with tear gas and water cannon, with students responding by pelting police with stones.

There was a similar confrontation in Istanbul where police also used batons to clear the students, television footage showed.

The two demonstrations targeted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom the students accuse of refusing to engage in a dialogue with them.
Students in Turkey have been staging demonstrations since November when 18 were sentenced to 15-month suspended sentences for demonstrating against Erdogan in 2008.

Several of the protests have been put down violently by police.