Turkish police fired water cannon and tear gas on Friday to disperse a crowd of several thousand protesters in the town of Soma, where close to 300 people died in the country's worst ever mining disaster this week, a Reuters witness said.
People scattered into side streets as the police intervened on a commercial street lined with shops and banks, as well as the offices of the local government and labor union.
Anger has swept Turkey as the extent of the disaster became clear, with protests partly directed at mine owners accused of prioritizing profit over safety, and partly at Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government, seen as too cozy with industry tycoons and too lax in enforcing regulations.