ANKARA,— Pro-Kurdish Turkish students, many wearing face masks, hurled stones and fireworks at police in the capital Ankara on Thursday as they sought to march on the palace of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an AFP photographer said.

Dozens of students from the Middle Eastern Technical University (METU) in Ankara sought to take a banner reading “The Kurdish People You Are Not Alone” to Erdogan’s palace, an AFP photographer reported.

But they were blocked by police at the gates of the university and responded by hurling projectiles at police, including fireworks which lit up the night sky.

The police responded by using tear gas and water cannon, They arrested six people, including two women, the Dogan news agency reported.

Tensions have risen across Turkey as security forces pursue massive operations in Turkish Kurdistan in the southeast of the country against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK initially took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, with the aim of establishing an independent state for Turkey’s Kurdish minority, who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 78-million population, although lately the demands have focused on greater autonomy and rights. The conflict has left tens of thousands dead.

A large Turkey’s Kurdish community openly sympathise with PKK rebels.

Source: eKurd