New dramatic video out of Turkey appears to show riot police firing a tear-gas canister directly at a protester.
The clip appears to show a young male protester facing away from the camera, several yards away from a gathering of police officers in riot gear. One of the officers approaches the protester, raises his riot gun and fires off a round of tear gas, causing the protester to lurch backward. It is unclear whether the protester is holding his face because of the tear gas, or because the canister, which appeared to travel on a trajectory roughly level with his face, did in fact strike him head-on. Though he raised his arms as the officer approaches, based on the video footage the protester did not appear to provoke police action.
The clip emerges as protests in Istanbul entered their fourth day on Monday. Police have used both tear gas and water cannons to subdue protesters. A Turkish doctors' group said on Monday that one protester has been killed after a vehicle slammed into the crowd.
Also on Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan dismissed comparisons between the protests and the mass demonstrations that culminated in the 2011 Arab Spring. "We already have a spring in Turkey," Erdogan said. "But there are those who want to turn this spring into winter.
"Be calm, these will all pass," Erdogan said of the protests.
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