Turkish police in running battles with earthquake victims

TURKISH police fired into the air yesterday and fought running battles with earthquake victims demanding more government help as hope faded for scores of boys buried under a dormitory flattened by the quake.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan blamed the riot on provocateurs in the town, a centre of Kurdish rebellion in the ’80s and ’90s. But, while defending police actions, he announced the Bingol police chief had been sacked.

“We are all suffering this pain together,” he said. “I appeal to the people of Bingol to be more calm and sensitive.”

Rescue workers laboured through the night, hacking into the floodlit wreckage of the boys’ dormitory demolished by a tremor that killed more than 100 people in the impoverished mountainous area. By morning, the bodies of 38 children and a teacher had been found.

Parents kept vigil, wrapped in blankets before fires at the site of the catastrophe amid the silence of those buried under the mountain of masonry.

Cries for help died away through the night but workers sent sniffer dogs to areas in the rubble where those among the 50 to 70 still missing might be still alive.

“We will continue working on the assumption there are people alive,” said an announcement made to the waiting families.

Anger boiled over in the morning when more than 1,000 people marched on the Bingol governor’s office. They accused the governor of failing to help them and demanded more tents and food.

A police van sped at the crowd, forcing it to part and officers fired shots in the air from automatic weapons for about two minutes.

Protesters fled into sidestreets, dived to the ground or took cover behind cars. As the shooting stopped, they whistled derision at police while organisers pleaded for calm.

But minutes later clashes resumed, with protesters throwing stones at police vans and armoured cars. Police ducked behind buildings, firing again into the air or answering with batons and water cannon.

Many suffered injuries in the panic. A photographer was beaten with a baton by a policeman and his camera was taken.

Yusuf Katkay was one of six children rescued overnight from the dormitory, built to house boys up to the age of 14 from remote villages.

“They were working and they came to me, and I understood they were going to take me out. They dug and opened one hole. They gave me water and took me out,” he said.

Parents waited even as hope faded. “I haven’t seen my son. I have no idea if he’s alive or dead. All I want is to see him,” Halis Agadag said.

The earthquake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, struck early on Thursday, catching most asleep. Buildings were crushed in Bingol and other towns in the province.