ISTANBUL, Dec 7: Turkish police on Saturday used tear gas and water cannon to break up a protest on the sidelines of the funeral of two Kurds shot dead during clashes a day earlier.

Hundreds of protesters set up barricades of burning tyres on a road in the Yuksekova district of Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkey and pelted officers with stones.

The clashes come after two protesters, aged 34 and 32, were shot dead Friday in a violent confrontation with police, sparked by claims that Kurdish rebel cemeteries had been destroyed.

The local governor’s office has denied the destruction of these cemeteries, where fighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are buried.—AFP