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A protest at Gezi park, Taksim square in Istanbul. AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis
Turkey
Turkey: Protester dies as car crashes into group of demonstrators
A 20-year-old man has died after being hit by a taxi which rammed into a group of demonstrators occupying a highway in Istanbul.
A 20-YEAR-OLD Turkish protester has died after being hit by a taxi which drove into a group of demonstrators in Istanbul.
The Turkish doctors’ association TBB named the deceased as Mehmet Ayvalitas, a member of a left-wing association. Four other people were injured, one seriously.
The medics say the car rammed into a group of demonstrators occupying the highway and did not stop “despite all warnings”.
Anti-government protests have been raging for several days in towns and cities across Turkey, sparked by the violent tactics used by police against peaceful sit-in demonstrators who objected to a park in Istanbul being converted into a shopping mall.
Images and video coming out of Turkey shows tear gas and violence being used against protesters.
More than 1,700 people have been arrested in recent days, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly dismissed the legitimacy of the street protests against his rule, saying the actions were organised by “extremists”.
Meanwhile, the hackivist group Anonymous took down several Turkish government websites last night, condemning the “censorship of social media and other communication” methods.
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