More than a thousand protesters, mostly young people, confronted authorities during the boy's funeral on Saturday in the town of Cizre near the Syrian border.

Authorities responded with tear gas and by firing into the air, television reports showed.

Protesters ransacked stores, blocked roads and threw rocks at anti-riot police. About a dozen were detained, Anatolia news agency reported.

Clashes were also reported between police and protesters in the neighbouring town of Hakkari.

Scores were detained Friday when police broke up demonstrations. The 15-year-old died after being wounded in the head in unclear circumstances in Cizre.

Meanwhile, at least 10,000 Kurds protested in Strasbourg on Saturday to demand Ocalan's release. The European Court of Human Rights is based in the French city, and the European Parliament also sits there.

Turkish undercover agents, aided by US colleagues, captured Ocalan in Nairobi after the rebel chieftain left the Greek embassy there, where he had been offered refuge for several days while on the run.

He was flown to Turkey and sentenced to death for treason in June 1999. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison as Turkey abolished capital punishment as part of EU-sought reforms.

The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than 37,000 lives since 1984 when the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in the southeast.

Since December 16, Turkish warplanes have carried out five bombing raids on PKK positions in northern Iraq, where the group takes refuge.