Demonstrator’s death stirs protests in Turkey

Dissident groups call for demonstrations after death of 22-year-old man in clashes with police in country’s southeast.

Tensions remain high in Hatay, a province of mixed ethnicities and religions that borders Syria [EPA]

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Anti-government protesters in Turkey have called for mass demonstrations after a Turkish protester died in a protest in the southeastern province of Hatay.

Ahmet Atakan, 22, died on Tuesday in a protest organised to show solidarity with students opposed to the construction of a road through a university in Ankara, the capital, but the cause of his death was in dispute.

Taksim Solidarity Platform, an umbrella group of Turkish dissidents, called for a gathering in Istanbul’s Taksim Square to mark the death of Atakan.

Several anti-government platforms also called for nationwide demonstrations in various cities including Ankara and Antakya.

Dozens held in Turkey, silent protester goes viral

(Reuters) – A lone, silent vigil by a man in Istanbul inspired copycat protests on Tuesday, as police detained dozens of people across Turkey in an operation linked to three weeks of often violent demonstrations against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Overnight in Ankara, riot police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of protesters who had gathered in and around the government quarter of Kizilay.

But in stark contrast to the recent fierce clashes in several cities, dozens of protesters merely stood in silence in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, inspired by a man who lit up social media by doing just that for eight hours in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Monday.