ISTANBUL (AP) - Turkish police on Wednesday used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators protesting the detentions of two leading politicians in the largest city in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast.
Hundreds gathered outside the Diyarbakir municipality to demand the release of mayor Gultan Kisanak and co-mayor Firat Anli, who were taken into custody late Tuesday as part of a terrorism investigation.
Kisanak, Diyarbakir's first female mayor, and Anli are members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, or HDP, and were elected in the 2014 local elections. Their detentions come amid a growing crackdown on the political party, which the government accuses of being a political wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
The PKK has waged a three decade long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. The party denies the accusation.
The conflict between Turkey and the PKK has claimed an estimated 40,000 lives since 1984. Since the collapse of a ceasefire in 2015, at least 600 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.
In September, the government ousted 24 municipal and district mayors from their elected posts for alleged connections to the outlawed PKK and appointed trustees in their stead. Several HDP legislators, including the party's leaders, face prosecution for alleged ties to the PKK.
The two politicians were detained for questioning as part of a probe into the PKK, Anadolu reported. A statement from the Diyarbakir prosecutor's office said the two were being investigated for "speaking positively about the terror organization", "calling for autonomy" and allowing the use of municipality vehicles for Kurdish militants' funerals.
Cihan Aydin, one of the politicians' lawyers, told The Associated Press that the attorneys have not been able to speak to their clients or see the accusations leveled against them due to a "confidentiality" decision placed on their files. The lawyers would on Thursday appeal the confidentiality decision as well as the five-day restriction on accessing their lawyers.
Turkey declared a state of emergency following the failed coup in July, allowing the government to rule by decrees and authorities to detain suspects for up to 30 days as well as restrict access to lawyers in the first five days of detention.
Police cordoned off the municipality building in Diyarbakir after the governor's office issued a written statement calling for "common sense" and reiterated a ban on open-air gatherings that has been in effect since August under Turkey's state of emergency. An AP video journalist witnessed police in plainclothes or uniforms round up several demonstrators.
Anadolu news agency reported that protesters attacked security forces with improvised explosive devices and rocks. Some were detained, according to the agency.
A protest was also held in Istanbul, where demonstrators held up a banner that read: "The municipalities belong to the people, the people's will cannot be surrendered."
Earlier Wednesday, top European Union officials voiced concern over the detentions, calling on Turkey to respect the rule of law even as it deals with the security threat posed by Kurdish militants.
In a statement, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn called on Turkey to resume Kurdish peace efforts, saying "a political solution is the only viable option."
Figen Yuksekdag, who is one of two leaders of the HDP, denounced Tuesday's detentions saying the two politicians were elected in Diyarbakir with 65 percent of the votes. Dogan Erbas, the co-president of the HDP's Istanbul branch, said: "this act is a direct attack on the local democratic will of the people."
The private Dogan news agency reported that access to the Internet was disrupted in Diyarbakir and other parts of the southeast region on Wednesday. There was no official confirmation of any limits to Internet access and it was not clear if the interruptions were related to calls for protests that are often relayed through social media.
In a televised speech to a group of village and district administrators Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterate Turkey's refusal to resume peace talks with the PKK or involve the HDP.
"We do not deal with the organization and the political institutions in its control," Erdogan said.
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Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed from Ankara, Bulut Emiroglu reported from Istanbul and Mucahit Ceylan from Diyarbakir.