Violent Clashes Between Riot Police and Protestors in Turkey Wednesday March 12,2014

Violent clashes have broken out in Turkey after the funeral of a 15-year-old boy who was hit by a police tear-gas canister in anti-government protests

 The protesters lit a fire in the streets with material from a wrecked office of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)

Tens of thousands of people attended the procession in the capital Istanbul today Wed March 12,2014 for Berkin Elvan, who passed away yesterday nine months after slipping into a coma

Berkin was on his way to buy bread during anti-government street protests when he was struck in the head by a high-velocity gas canister

Today, thousands converged in front of a house of worship where Berkin's body lay and marched to the spot where he was struck in the head on June 16,2013 before proceeding to the cemetery, his casket carried on mourners' shoulders.

Mourners chanted 'Berkin Elvan is immortal', 'Government resign!' and 'Murderer Tayyip.'

Some protesters hurled stones at a ruling party building, smashing its windows.

Police fired water cannon, tear gas and rubber pellets on a major Istanbul avenue to stop tens of thousands of people chanting anti-government slogans from reaching the central Taksim Square.

There were similar scenes in the centre of the capital Ankara and in the Aegean coastal city of Izmi

Crowds chanting 'Tayyip! Killer!' and 'Everywhere is Berkin, everywhere is resistance' held up photos of the 15-year-old as his coffin, draped in red and covered in flowers, was carried through the working class Okmeydani district.

Her voice hoarse with tears as her son's coffin was lowered into the ground, Elvan's mother Gulsum cried out: 'What am I to do now? They've taken my everything.'

Protestors hold newspapers bearing a picture of the crying mother of Berkin Elvan on the day of his funeral, on March 12, 2014, in Ankara, one day after his death

 

Alevis are a religious minority in mainly Sunni Muslim Turkey who espouse a liberal version of Islam and have often been at odds with Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government.

Some protestors used fireworks to disrupt police, who patrolled the streets of the Turkish capital in riot gear and armoured vehicles

Riot police fire tear gas at protesters on the day of the funeral