435 Inmates Holding Out in Turkish Prison Siege

Left-wing prisoners defied a call to surrender Thursday, vowing to fight until “death or victory” as soldiers lobbed tear-gas grenades through holes drilled in the roof in an attempt to end a three-day siege.

The 435 prisoners in Umraniye prison in Istanbul are the last group to hold out after 158 inmates in another penitentiary gave up Thursday afternoon.

Soldiers found guns, computers and mobile phones in some recently captured prison wards.

Also Thursday, parliament overrode a presidential veto and passed an amnesty bill that will free half of Turkey’s 72,000 prisoners. The amnesty will not apply to prisoners who opposed the state, such as Islamic, Kurdish or leftist militants.

Turkish soldiers stormed 20 prisons Tuesday to end a two-month hunger strike by inmates and regain control over the communal wards.

Inmates launched their hunger strike to protest plans to move them into prisons with cells for one to three people. The inmates say they would be more vulnerable to abuse in the smaller cells.

The bodies of two prisoners were discovered at Canakkale prison in northwestern Turkey. Another inmate died at the hospital, raising the three-day death toll to 20.

On Thursday, soldiers used sledgehammers to smash through the Canakkale prison roof and fired tear-gas canisters inside. The 158 prisoners holding out there later surrendered.