ISTANBUL, Oct 20 (AFP) - Security forces sprayed tear gas on stone-hurling protestors in Istanbul Wednesday at a demonstration to mark the fourth anniversary of a hunger strike in Turkish prisons that claimed dozens of lives, Anatolia news agency reported.
Twenty-four people were detained in the unrest near the ancient Blue Mosque in the historical heart of Istanbul, the agency said.
A group of some 100 activists gathered outside the mosque carrying symbolic coffins with pictures of victims of the hunger strike, which was initiated on October 20, 2000 by hundreds of inmates, most of them far-left militants, against the introduction of new high-security prisons.
Riot police moved on the protestors when they rejected orders to disperse. Several foreign tourists sightseeing in the area were seen taking cover behind cars parked in the vicinity as security forces began using tear gas and the protestors responded by throwing stones, Anatolia said.
Sixty-six people are known to have starved themselves to death in the hunger strike, including both inmates and outside supporters of the protest.
The inauguration of the new prisons is seen as one of the most dramatic and controversial episodes in recent Turkish political history.
Using firearms and tear gas, hundreds of soldiers raided jails across the country, several weeks after the strike started, to move the resisting inmates to the new jails. Bulldozers were used to demolish prison walls.
The prisoners responded with gunfire, and some set themselves ablaze.
The four-day operation claimed the lives of 32 inmates and two soldiers.
The strikers, backed by rights groups, have argued that the new jails, where small cells replaced dormitories housing dozens, leave them more vulnerable to mistreatment by prison guards.
Ankara has ruled out a return to the dormitory system, arguing that it was behind frequent riots and hostage-taking incidents in the unruly old jails, where inmates were able to smuggle in even guns.
The so-called "death fast" saw about 2,000 prisoners fast on a rotating basis at the peak of the protest. Only seven inmates fast today, according to the Human Rights Association.