Clashes have erupted between police and members of the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) despite the fact that police refused to allow holding demonstrations.

Kurdish activists trying to hold a rally in support of the PKK’s imprisoned leader in the mainly-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir despite a government ban on the meeting.

The demonstrators gathered with some BDP lawmakers and went on a defiant atmosphere as the clashes broke out. They were calling for releasing PKK leader.

Police prevented demonstrators
from entering Diyarbakir’s Istasyon Square, where the meeting was set to be held, by using tear gas and pressurized water.

BDP officials sought to go ahead with the planned rally, despite the Diyarbakir Governor's Office’s announcement on Monday that it would not permit the gathering.

Around 5,000 police officers and additional forces have been dispatched to the city.

Abdullah Ocalan (born 4 April 1948) is a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). He was abducted by Turkish security forces in Nairobi and taken to Turkey, where he was sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed groups.

The sentence was commuted to aggravated life imprisonment when Turkey abolished the death penalty in support of its bid to be admitted to membership in the European Union. From 1999 until 2009, he was the sole prisoner on the Imrali Island, in the Sea of Marmara. The conflict between Turkey and the PKK has resulted in over 40,000 lives being lost, including PKK members, the Turkish military, and civilians, both Kurdish and Turkish.