PodcastTurkish police fire plastic bullets, teargas at press conference of workers' union in Batman
Turkish police fired plastic bullets and teargas on a crowd at a union protest for the layoffs of three health workers in the southeastern province of Batman, who were sacked for being union members. Police also detained eight persons, six of whom were union officials.
Duvar English
Turkey's President Erdoğan condemns Minneapolis police killing of George FloydPolice fired plastic bullets and teargas on a crowd gathered for a press conference that in front of the local Family, Labor and Social Services Directorate to criticize the layoffs of three health workers on the grounds of their union memberships.
Police surrounded the area in front of the local directorate as crowd gathered for the press conference that Confederation of Public Employees Trade Union (KESK)'s chamber in the southeastern province of Batman organized, Mesopotamia Agency reported.
Police officers fired plastic bullets and teargas while the local Health and Social Workers Union (SES) chamber's co-chair Deniz Topkan read the statement for the press.
The police stopped the press conference on the grounds of a ban from the governor's office.
Spokeswoman for pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Ayşe Acar Başaran called police "agitators."
The crowd carried a banner that read "stop unlawful layoffs" in protest of three local health workers' layoffs in reaction to their membership to SES.
SES Batman Co-Chair Deniz Topkan, General Secretary for the Union of Education Workers (Eğitim-Sen) Welat Kaya, KESK General Secreatary for Women Gülistan Atasoy, Bureau Workers Union (BES) General Secretary Aziz Özkan, SES Batman Chamber Director Salih Bayat and SES General Secretary Selma Atabey were among the eight persons detained.
Police brutality on the rise amid coronavirus curfews across Turkey
Health care union to file lawsuit against gov't agency for not recognizing Covid-19 as occupational disease