Eight hundred marched on Ankara’s energy ministry as police fired tear gas and water cannon. Violent protests have been reported in Soma itself, where relatives of the dead miners are unleashing their anger at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

PM Erdogan visited Soma, the site of the disaster, on Wednesday. There, he was confronted with a spontaneous protest with locals booing and whistling at him as he made statements regarding the disaster at a news conference. Erdogan was forced to shelter in a local supermarket to escape the enraged crowds. Rocks were thrown as crowd members accused the Turkish PM of being a murderer and a thief.

Riot police used a water cannon on the demonstrators as they approached the ruling NKP party headquarters.

In Ankara, students marched on the energy ministry yelling anti-government slogans and hurling rocks. Law enforcers responded by deploying tear gas and water cannon against the protesters.

Further protests swept through Istanbul, with people gathering in the city metro and outside the headquarters of the company which owns the mine.

Graffiti alleging that the company had committed murder was daubed on the walls of the Soma Holdings office, while others painted their faces black in solidarity with the miners.

NTJ/NJF