ISTANBUL: Dozens were injured in eastern Turkey on Thursday as police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse nationalists protesting against an election rally by the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), local officials said.

The clashes were the latest in a string of incidents in the run-up to Sunday’s legislative elections, in which the HDP is trying to clear the 10 per cent threshold for entering parliament as a party under proportional representation.

The unrest erupted a day after unidentified gunmen opened fire on a HDP campaign bus in Kurdish-majority eastern Bingol province, killing the driver.

Around 1,000 Turkish nationalists stormed the rally in the main square of the northeastern city of Erzurum, seen as a bastion for Turkish nationalists and religious conservatives.

About 2,000 HDP supporters had gathered to hear the party leader Selahattin Demirtas speak at the rally.

His appearance had been seen as a bold statement in a region where his party is far from popular, as it tries to win votes from outside its southeastern Kurdish-majority heartland.

Private NTV television showed the demonstrators breaking through the police barricades, before security forces responded with tear gas and water cannon.

The demonstrators, mostly young people, waved Turkish flags and chanted slogans such as “This is Erzurum, there is no way out from here” and “God is greatest”.

A minibus driver suffered severe burns when his vehicle, covered with HDP flags, was set on fire, Dogan news agency said.

Erzurum’s governor Ahmet Altiparmak said in a statement quoted by Turkish media that 38 people had been wounded, including 11 police, 17 HDP supporters and 10 protesters.

But he also thanked the security forces and public for showing sensitivity so that the situation did not get out of hand.

Published in Dawn June 5th, 2015

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