DIYARBAKIR, 14 November 2005 — Some 10 people were injured yesterday in clashes between riot police hurling tear gas and demonstrators when more than 10,000 people gathered here to call for a peaceful solution to the region’s Kurdish rebellion. The “democracy and peace” demonstration, organized by local non-governmental groups and pro-Kurdish parties, took place amid tight security in this predominantly Kurdish city of southeastern Turkey. Demonstrators chanted slogans in support of the outlawed pro-independence Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and its leader Abdullah Ocalan, jailed for life by a Turkish court in 1999. Police baton-charged several hundred people who tried to organize a separate march in support of Ocalan and a number of arrests were made. Banners read: “The PKK is the people.” An area around 600 km further east, near Turkey’s borders with Iran and Iraq, remained tense yesterday following a bomb blast and clashes in recent days that have left two dead and dozens injured.
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