ANKARA, Dec 7 (AFP) - Stone-throwing Turkish protesters demonstrating against prison conditions Tuesday clashed with police who used truncheons and teargas to contain the unrest, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Hooded protesters armed with sticks and stones began hurling firebombs shortly after the marchers set off from their gathering point in Ankara's central Kizilay square, Anatolia said.
Demonstrators threw stones at police, who charged them with truncheons and used tear gas to disperse them, the agency said, adding that police carried out 30 arrests.
Under the so-called Type F incarceration system approved in 2000, prison cells for one or three inmates replaced large dormitories where frequent mutinies and hostage-takings used to occur.
But critics say the new conditions increase isolation and make inmates more susceptible to abuse by guards.
12/07/2004 14:30 GMT - AFP