Riot police protest in Istanbul following fatal shooting

In full uniform and carrying Turkish flags the group marched to Istanbul Police Headquarters shouting anti-government slogans. The protest came the day after two riot police officers were killed in a gun attack on a police bus in the Istanbul suburb of Gaziosmanpasa, an area known as a hotbed of left-wing radical activity. According to the latest figures released, 12 officers were injured in the attack.

Police believe that three unidentified gunmen opened fire on the bus using Kalashnikov rifles. An investigation into the incident is continuing. Anadolu quoted police sources as saying that the Turkish Communist Party/Marxist Leninist group had claimed responsibility for the attack. After singing the national anthemn, the protesting police shouted numerous slogans, including "prime minister resign", "everything is for the country" and "tooth for tooth, blood for blood".

The group marched on to the offices of the Istanbul governor where Istanbul Police Chief Kazim Abanoz attempted to calm the situation. The police then marched back to Istanbul Police Headquarters where the funeral of the two police officers was held.

At the funeral ceremony itself, the police officers continued to shout slogans and waved guns into the air, preventing Interior Minister Saadettin Tantan from giving a speech. The bodies of the two dead policemen were later taken to their hometowns for burial.

(la/sda)