10,000 march in Istanbul to commemorate the Gazi Uprising

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

   ISTANBUL, March 12 (AFP) - Ten thousand people marched in  
Istanbul's impoverished Gazi district on Thursday to commemorate the 
anniversary of bloody clashes there between police and left-wing 
protesters. 
   Security forces put up checkpoints around the district as  
marchers streamed in from surrounding quarters, the Anatolia news 
agency reported. Shops along the demonstration route closed their 
shutters. 
   Unknown gunmen killed three people in a cafe frequented by the  
Alevi religious minority in the Gazi district in March 1995, 
triggering violent demonstrations in the district that lasted for 
days and left 15 dead. 
   On the eve of this year's anniversary, suspected leftist  
militants opened fire on a police patrol in Istanbul on Wednesday 
night, injuring an officer. 





   Meanwhile in Ankara, a dozen people were slightly injured in a  
demonstration of right-wing civil servants supporting a governmental 
bill that would allow state employees to join trade unions but would 
not grant them the right to strike. 

   Some 300 demonstrators protested before the headquarters of  
People's Republican Party (CHP), who has refused to support the 
government's proposal. 

   CHP party militants threw stones at the demonstrators and at the  
police and slightly injured a dozen people. 
   A CHP leader Adnan Keskin, accused the police of molesting him  
during the protest and demanded the opening of an investigation on 
Thursday's incidents. 

   Keskin said his party supported the right to strike for civil  
servants and would do all in its power for the bill to be modified. 
  	   	
-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan!
Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org                          
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