Police Clash With Crowds in Istanbul on Second Day of IMF Protests
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Protesters hurled firebombs at banks and police and smashed shop windows in a second day of protests Wednesday against the International Monetary Fund.
The crowd of some 150 people — members of fringe left-wing groups — gathered about half a mile away from the venue of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank being held in Istanbul, shouting "IMF get out!"
The protesters also stoned a police vehicle, prompting officers inside to fire warning shots in the air to keep them at bay, while riot police used water canons and tear and pepper gas.
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Groups of masked youths hurled gasoline bombs at several banks, and shattered the windows of a Burger King fast food restaurant as well as windows of several Turkish and foreign banks in Istanbul's Sisli district.
SLIDESHOW: Cops, Protesters Clash in Istanbul
Outnumbered by police, the protesters ran down side streets but regrouped quickly in a failed attempt to break through police lines and march to a complex where the IMF and World Bank were wrapping up discussions on internal reforms and the fragile recovery from the global economic meltdown.
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Muammer Guler, the governor of Istanbul, said 25 protesters were detained on Wednesday.
The previous day, police detained 103 people following a similar protest in which masked demonstrators shattered shop and bank windows and hurled stones at riot police, Guler said.
Last week, a student journalist threw a shoe at IMF Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn at a university in Istanbul. The shoe missed him.