Prison Protester Sets Herself Afire
A woman doused her body with gasoline and set herself ablaze in a busy Istanbul square to protest Turkey’s maximum-security prison system. Passersby put out the fire and the 26-year-old woman survived, the Anatolia news agency reported.
She had reportedly served time in prison for being a member of the banned Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, a Marxist group that calls for the overthrow of the government in Ankara.
The organization is leading a protest against Turkey’s maximum-security prisons, where inmates are kept in cells housing one or three people. The inmates say the small cells leave them isolated and vulnerable to abuse. Many had been relocated there from large wards.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
