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Turkish police detain 21 in anti-NATO demonstration
ISTANBUL (AFP) Jun 29, 2004
Turkish riot police on Tuesday broke up a demonstration against the NATO summit here, using pepper gas and truncheons against protestors and detaining 21 of them, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Thirty-three people, including five officers, were treated as out patients at a nearby hospital after sustaining minor injuries and suffering the effects of the gas, the report said.

Some 1,500 officers were on duty for the demonstration in which about 400 left-wing protestors gathered at a square on the European side of the Bosphorus Strait, about 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from the fortified summit venue, chanting slogans against the United States and the NATO meeting.

Police, decked out in helmets, gas masks and plastic shields, first kept a close watch on the protest, and then moved in on demonstrators who were marching down the main Istiklal Avenue away from the summit.

Police fired pepper gas at the crowd and some officers kicked and hit protestors with their truncheons as they sought to escape down side streets, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.

Tuesday's demonstration came a day after nearly 60 people were injured when protestors hurled petrol bombs and stones at police and security forces responded with water cannon, tear gas, plastic bullets and truncheons.

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