Six-year-old boy hit in eye by tear gas canister while ‘looking out of window’

ŞIRNAK

There is still a risk of vision loss for six-year-old for Furkan Afşar, his mother said. DHA Photo

A six-year-old boy was hit in the eye by a tear gas canister while looking out of a window during a protest in the southeastern province of Şırnak, as his mother has said to journalists.

A group of demonstrators in the Cizre town were protesting the clashes in Lice on June 9. As security forces intervened to disperse the crowd, six-year-old Furkan Afşar was injured. He was initially taken to Cizre State Hospital and was transferred to Diyarbakır after receiving first aid.

“The tear gas canister hit my son, who was sitting beside the window. He was suddenly drenched in blood. At the hospital, we realized he was injured in his left eye. There is a risk of vision loss,” the boy’s mother Kader Afşar said.

Clashes had erupted between police and demonstrators after the funeral of Ramazan Baran in Diyarbakır’s suburban Bağlar district. Baran, 26, and Baki Akdemir, 50, both died from gunshot wounds during the security forces’ attack on a roadblock protest against the construction of a gendarmerie post in Lice.

Tensions rose even higher after a protester took down the Turkish flag from the inside of an Air Force base in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır during the demonstrations June 8.