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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Turkey Deputy PM apologises to Gezi Park protesters

Turkey Deputy PM apologises to Gezi Park protesters

Protestors throw tear gas back at Turkish police during clashes with Turkish police near Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan officeClashes continued overnight into Tuesday in cities including the capital Ankara
Turkey's Deputy PM Bulent Arinc has apologised to protesters injured in demonstrations opposing the demolition of an Istanbul park.
The original protests over the redevelopment of Gezi Park were "just and legitimate", he said.
He also offered to meet the organisers of the protests against the park redevelopment.
The protests have since escalated into five days of unrest in Istanbul, the capital Ankara, and other cities.
However, Mr Arinc, speaking at a news conference in Ankara, added: "I do not think we need to apologise to those who create destruction of public property in the streets and who try to prevent the freedom of the people in the streets."
One union federation has begun a two-day strike in support of the protests.
The left-wing Kesk trade union confederation, representing some 240,000 workers, accused the government of committing "state terror".
A second death in the protests has been confirmed by officials the southern city of Antakya.
Abdullah Comert, 22, a member of the youth wing of the opposition Republican People's Party, was "seriously wounded... after gunfire from an unidentified person," the governor's office said, adding that he died later in hospital.
Earlier, the Turkish Doctors' Union said 20-year-old Mehmet Ayvalitas was hit by a car on Sunday which ignored warnings to stop and ploughed into a crowd of protesters in the Mayis district of Istanbul.

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