Turkish security forces fire on protesters in Diyarbakir "All those demonstrators were unarmed villagers," said Gulten Kisanak, a pro-Kurdish lawmaker, condemning the authorities' deadly intervention. "It is a clear murder, a massacre attempt, a heinous provocation to open fire on villagers," she added. The clash came as Ankara bids to contain unrelated anti-government protests that began on May 31 in Istanbul but quickly spread across the country after a heavy-handed police crackdown against the mostly peaceful demonstrators. The series of demonstrations have so far left four people dead and nearly 8,000 injured, posing one of the biggest challenges to the decade-old government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kisanak's Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has announced plans to stage its own demonstrations in southeastern cities, demanding more rights for the Kurdish minority.