Some 200 people began a sit-in protest Tuesday in front of the prime minister's office in the breakaway Turkish state in northern Cyprus calling for the release of dozens people arrested during a violent protest a day before.
More people were joining the demonstration with every passing minute while large numbers of police, some in riot gear, kept a close watch, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
Tuesday's demonstration, organized by 44 Turkish Cypriot non-governmental organizations, was called to protest a clash on Monday between riot police and victims of a banking scandal outside the parliament of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
Eighteen people were injured when police used truncheons; tear gas and pressurized water to disperse a 3,000-strong crowd, which briefly occupied the parliament building, and some 60 people are reported to have been arrested.
The Turkish Cypriot police has so far not made a statement on the exact number of the detainees, but at least 15 leading members of trade unions and a journalist from the left-wing opposition daily Avrupa were reported to be among those in custody.
The protestors were demanding that the government pay them their monthly compensation, which has been failing to come for the past few months, to cover losses incurred after six troubled banks were put under public administration in the past six months.
Tuesday's protestors said they would continue their demonstration until the last person is released from custody and condemned Monday's harsh police reaction as an "attack on the will of the public."
In a press release, the demonstrators described the incidents outside parliament as an attempt by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to undermine the parliamentary system by creating tension and gain sole control of his internationally isolated state.
"Monday's events were a rehearsal for a coup. The Denktash regime, which has its hopes set on chaos in our country, is preparing a coup," the statement said.
Denktash on Monday called on the Turkish Cypriot government to take urgent measures to deal with the growing anger of the public over the banking scandal, in which some 30,000 people lost about 200 million dollars, according to official figures.
Denktash also openly raised the possibility of giving up the office which he has held since the TRNC was declared in 1983 - NICOSIA (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
