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Turkish police hold Kurdish protestors on women's march

ANKARA, March 10, 2007 (AFP) - Turkish police on Saturday detained 27 people after a rally supporting International Women's Day turned into a march in support of Kurdish separatists, the Anatolia agency reported.

Anti-riot police tried to stop the protest organised by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in the eastern town of Van when demonstrators began shouting slogans backing the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), it said.

The protestors, who were also voicing support for jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, responded by throwing stones, the agency said, although it did not report any injuries.

Five protestors were arrested in similar circumstances in neighbouring Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's Kurdish-populated southeast region.

On Thursday, a court there charged 92 women over a demonstration to mark International Women's Day -- which was on Wednesday -- during which they shouted slogans in support of Ocalan.

The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, has been fighting for independence for Kurds in southeast Turkey since 1984.

More than 37,000 people have died in the conflict.