TURKISH soldiers fired tear gas and water cannon today at Kurds protesting against plans to build military barracks in Diyarbakir province.

The soldiers had launched an operation to break up a 12-day sit-in by some 400 protesters in the Lice district of Kurdish majority Diyarbakir.

Dozens of protesters hurled petrol bombs, fireworks and stones in response to the police action.

The demonstrators are opposing the construction of new army posts in Kurdish majority areas, which they see as a threat to the peace process launched in 2012 between government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The protests, in which the PKK youth wing has played a prominent role, have spread to other provinces in recent days.

In the province of Mus, helicopters set down soldiers and special forces to back an early-morning operation against about 1,000 demonstrators who clashed with security forces there. Villagers joined the protest, setting up makeshift barricades and throwing stones at armoured vehicles.

There were also street clashes in Diyarbakir’s Silvan district and the Cizre district of Sirnak province near the borders with Syria and Iraq.

There were no immediate indications that yesterday’s security operations had brought an end to the protests, in which the demonstrators have set up roadblocks and dug trenches to close roads between provinces.

Security forces have periodically filled in the trenches during the 12 days of protest, only for the demonstrators to dig them up again and resume their action.