2009-10-07
Protesters smashed shop and bank windows, attacked a police vehicle and hurled stones and fire bombs at police in a second day of protests Wednesday against the International Monetary Fund.
Police confronted the protesters by firing warning shots in the air, using water canons and tear and pepper gas.
The crowd of some 150 people — most members of fringe left-wing groups — gathered about half a mile (a kilometer) away from the venue of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank being held in Istanbul, shouting "IMF get out!"
They shattered the windows of a Burger King fast food restaurant as well as windows of several Turkish and foreign banks in Istanbul's Sisli district. An Associated Press photographer said protesters hurled fire bombs and stones at police.
A group of protesters then made their way to a nearby highway and threw stones at a police vehicle driving past. Police inside the car fired warning shots into the air to try and keep the protesters at bay.
Outnumbered by police, the protesters ran down side streets but regrouped quickly in an attempt to break through police lines and march to a complex where the IMF and World Bank were wrapping up discussions on internal reforms and the fragile recovery from the global economic meltdown.
At least 20 demonstrators were arrested.
On Tuesday, police detained some 100 people following a similar protest in which masked demonstrators shattered shop and bank windows and hurled stones at riot police.
Last week, a student journalist threw a shoe at IMF Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn at a university in Istanbul. The shoe missed him.