ISTANBUL, Oct 28 (AFP) - A five-man commando of alleged left-wing extremists hurled molotov cocktails and tried to set off a home-made explosive device outside the Beyoglu courthouse in central Istanbul early Thursday, press photographers at the scene said.
The five men, reportedly militants of the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), their faces covered with red bandanas, hung up a placard protesting against prison conditions outside the courthouse, the photographers said.
They then hurled molotov cocktails through the building's windows, starting a blaze that was quickly put out, and set fire to an LPG bottle outside the courthouse that was extinguished before it could explode.
The DHKP-C, considered a terrorist organization by both Turkish and European Union authorities, is accused of masterminding a deadly wave of hunger strikes among left-wing prison inmates and their friends and families that has resulted in nearly 70 deaths in four years.
The hunger strikes, which at their peak saw about 2,000 prisoners fast on a rotating basis, were launched to protest against the introduction four years ago of new high-security prisons.
The strikers, backed by human rights groups, say the new jails, where inmates are held in one- to three-man cells instead of dormitories housing dozens, leave them more vulnerable to mistreatment by prison guards.
The authorities rule out a return to the old system, arguing that the overcrowded dormitories were impossible to control, with inmates smuggling in cellphones, drugs and even guns with impunity, and the cause of frequent riots and hostage-takings.
10/28/2004 10:38 GMT - AFP