19 injured, 25 detained as Turkish police clash with Kurdish protestors 

 DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Aug 31 (AFP) - Eight demonstrators and 11 policemen were
 injured Friday when security forces and Kurdish protestors clashed in this mainly Kurdish city
 in southeast Turkey, officials said.

 Police also detained 25 people, said a police official, who asked not to be named.

 At one stage security forces fired shots in the air, but none of the injured had gunshot wounds.

 The clashes erupted when police attempted to disperse about 3,000 people gathered in
 Diyarbakir to board buses for Ankara, where they planned to join a march called by the
 pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HADEP) to mark world peace day, September 1.

 Police would not allow them to board the buses because authorities in Ankara had banned the
 march.

 The protestors then began chanting slogans in favor of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party
 (PKK) and its jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, and attacked police with sticks and stones.

 Security forces fired warning shots in the air and then, protected by plastic shields, slammed
 into the crowd with truncheons and turned on high pressure hoses.

 Diyarbakir police chief Atilla Cinar told Anatolia news agency that the crowd did not obey
 warnings from the police and HADEP officials to stop shouting pro-PKK slogans and hurling
 stones at the security forces.

 Ankara police banned the peace day march, saying "it was deemed likely to lead to serious
 public disorder and cause unwanted incidents."

 HADEP has appealed to a local court to overturn the ban.

 HADEP has often drawn the ire of Turkish authorities who allege it is linked to armed PKK
 rebels who waged a 15-year armed campaign against Ankara for Kurdish self-rule in southeast
 Turkey.

 HADEP denies the charge and says it favors a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. But it
 is still under the threat of a ban for alleged association with the PKK.

 Tension and clashes in Turkey's southeast have declined since September 1999, when the
 PKK declared an end to its armed campaign.

 It now seeks a peaceful solution to the conflict in line with peace calls from Ocalan, who has
 been condemned to death for treason.
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