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Two dead in illegal demonstrations in Muş, Turkey

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Two people died and eight others were wounded in the eastern Muş province after a shopkeeper reportedly opened fire on protestors staging an illegal demonstration in opposition of the closure of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). One shopkeeper was detained for opening fire on the protesters, state-run news agency Anatolian reported.Protestors broke store windows and threw Molotov cocktails while storekeepers were inside their workplaces. The demonstration organizers made a statement to the press at the center of the Bulanık district and began marching toward 700.Yıl Street. The demonstration turned violent when some protestors began launching Molotov cocktail attacks, which set one store ablaze. A shopkeeper opened fire on the crowd, and Kemal Kayacan and Nejmi Oral were killed.

The fatalities were the first after days of violence and street protests following a Constitutional Court ruling on Friday to ban the only Kurdish party in parliament.

A student was killed in clashes with police a week earlier as tensions began to rise in southeastern Turkey.

The court, using a controversial political parties act, found the Democratic Society Party (DTP) guilty of finding close ties to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party also known as PKK.

The decision was criticised by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, whose government is trying to boost Kurdish rights in a bid to end a 25-year-old conflict that has killed 40,000 people.

The court ruling is seen as a setback for Turkey's faltering hopes of joining the European Union.

The European Commission this week warned that the ruling deprived voters of the political representation needed for Turkey to fulfil its democratic mandate.

The same prosecutor who won the court's support to ban the DTP had unsuccessfully tried to have Erdogan's AK Party banned in 2008 on grounds that it contravened Turkey's secular constitution.

Prime Minister Erdoğan on Monday called for national unity and said Turkey would overcome its problems.