One passerby stabbed, another shot during Kobane protests in Istanbul suburb

ISTANBUL

A man, later identified as Kabil Okyaytan, was brutally beaten and stabbed after being taken for a protester attending the demonstrations in support of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane, late on Oct. 7

Two people, in two separate incidents, were mistaken as protesters and were attacked and left in a serious condition in the Istanbul district of Esenyurt during protests in support of the besieged Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane.

A man was shot by unidentified people, while another was beaten and stabbed by a large group of individuals after being taken for a protester who attended the demonstrations for Kobane.

Kabil Okyaytan was rushed to hospital after being found lying naked and stabbed in the street on Oct. 8. His family said he was not a protester, but found himself in the middle of a police crackdown on a group demonstrating against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as he was returning home from work.

They said he was attacked by a second group as he was trying to escape from tear gas fired by the police. “He was caught by a second group as he was trying to escape and they attacked him,” his brother said, adding that Okyaytan was stabbed between 10 and 15 times.

Another young man, Mert Değirmenci, remains in a serious condition after being shot by unidentified people with a shotgun in the same Esenyurt district on Oct. 7.

Değirmenci's family also said he was passing by when he found himself in the middle of protests, where he was shot in the head with live ammunition. His father has called on the authorities for answers, and cited eyewitness accounts accusing the police of opening fire on the crowd.

Since the protests erupted across Turkey on Oct. 7, over 20 people have been killed, mostly in clashes between protesters and radical Islamist groups in the southeastern provinces. Protests have also hit sensitive Istanbul suburbs such as Esenyurt, Gaziosmanpaşa, Sultangazi and Okmeydanı.