Turkish prisoners continue protests

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Violent protests continued for a third day in two Turkish jails as prisoners refused to end their action against jail reforms.

At least 17 prisoners and two troops have died in fiery protests since paramilitary police stormed 20 prisons on Tuesday to end a mass hunger strike.

Forces resumed their siege of Canakkale jail in western Turkey early on Thursday after suspending operations overnight to reduce the risk of further loss of life.

"If the intervention occurs at night, the losses could be greater," Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan was quoted as saying by the state-run Anatolian news agency.

VIDEO CNN's Margaret Lowry reports Kurdish protesters turned a popular London tourist attraction into a platform for their message Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

"To prevent that, we suspended the operation. We are using psychological methods to convince them (to give up)," he said.

CNN's Tayfun Ertan said some prisoners at Canakkale, one of two prisons yet to be subdued, appeared to be surrendering on Thursday.

Witnesses said they heard gunshots from Istanbul's Umraniye prison as the siege continued there late on Wednesday.

Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said: "I hope the convicts and detainees inside will make good use of this period. They have to see their resistance leads nowhere.

"This resistance is meaningless and self-destructive and it has to stop."

The prisoners are protesting against plans to replace large dormitory wings with smaller cells. They say the new system will expose them to violence from prison officers.

Turkish officials say extreme leftist groups are trying to preserve the power they hold in the dormitory system, under which prison officials patrol corridors and hallways but rarely enter dormitories.

The Interior Ministry said security forces moving in on Umraniye prison had been met with "flame-throwers made of kitchen gas canisters, petrol bombs, pipebombs and cutting, piercing weapons."

At Canakkale prison television pictures showed forces had used heavy machinery to knock big holes in the jail walls to enter.

The violence has prompted concern in the European Union, which Turkey wants to join, and sparked demonstrations across Turkey and in European cities.

In London, Kurdish protesters threatening to set themselves on fire took over the giant London Eye wheel beside the River Thames for five hours on Wednesday and also occupied London offices of the European Commission.

A spokeswoman for the protesters said: "This is a demonstration to show political prisoners in Turkey that we are with them and we will be with them to the end.

"The Turkish authorities have been murdering them."

In Ankara, Justice Minister Turk said gendarmes were using minimum force against the prisoners.

"The state went in to save lives. This protest is already self-destructive. It is suicide, it is death fasts," he said.

Human rights officials say the death toll is higher than official figures and dispute statements that most of the dead inmates burned themselves to death.

Health officials say that a large proportion of some 800 hunger strikers moved into hospitals are refusing treatment. Doctors say force-feeding them would be unethical.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Turkish Prime Minister's Office
London Eye

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