Police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse thousands of Kurdish protesters calling for an end to curfews and other aggressive political policies in Turkey.
The clashes follow calls for Kurdish autonomy by a prominent Kurdish politician.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the call as treason.
Julia Calixto reports.
It is the sound of thousands of protesters running for cover as police rush in, firing water cannons and tear gas, to disperse the crowd.
The confrontation ended what had begun as a peaceful rally through the streets of Diyarbakir, the heart of the Kurdish-populated region of south-eastern Turkey.
But tensions have been mounting in the city, which has been under a 24-hour curfew for a month.
That is because of ongoing clashes and gunfights between police and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, rebels.
Turkey, the European Union and the United States regard the PKK as a terrorist organisation.
But one local woman, Gulistan Atasoy, says the curfew simply cannot go on.
(Translated)"The curfew is affecting public spaces. We can't access education and health services because hospitals and schools are used as military headquarters. And people who provide these services are in danger. Union members and locals who serve our community have been killed, because they're seen as enemies by security forces. The curfew should be abolished. We should be able to go back to normal life, and political negotiations should take place as soon as possible."
Tens of thousands of civilians in south-east Turkey have been caught in the middle of fighting between government forces and Kurdish militants.
The military has been ramping up operations against the militants since peace talks collapsed in the middle of the year.
The co-chairman of the Confederation of Public Employees' Unions, Saziye Kose, says civilians have suffered the most.
(Turkey)"We've been seeing step by step that, after June 7 and November 1, this country is being pushed to the brink of a civil war. We're seeing that towns, neighbourhoods and cities are surrounded and the people's right to live is being taken out of their hands. The people are targeted by snipers, and the most damaged party is civilians. And, today, all the people who are intended to be killed and to be murdered are women, children and the elderly."
But relations between the government and the pro-Kurdish groups appear to be getting worse, not better.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused a leader of the pro-Kurdish opposition party of "treason and provocation."
It stems from comments by Peoples' Democratic Party co-leader Selahattin Demirtas supporting self-rule for Kurds in Turkey's south-east.
Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into those comments.
Mr Demirtas and his party say civilians are being killed in the clashes, which the government denies.
President Erdogan says the people and the law will make sure Mr Demirtas is "taught a lesson."
(Translated) "The statements of this co-leader were clear provocation and treason. Those who want to make an operation or surgery on Turkey get their just desserts,* and they will get the same. How dare you talk about establishing a state in the east and south-east of Turkey."
In the past two weeks, security forces have stepped up offensives in the country's mainly Kurdish regions.
The Peoples' Democratic Party says at least 23 civilians, including a five-year-old boy, have been killed in violence in the town of Cizre.
The PKK launched its insurgency in 1984.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
In recent years, the PKK shifted its focus from the countryside to urban areas in the south-east, digging trenches and setting up barricades in the streets to keep security forces away.
The latest security operations are thought to be Turkey's largest since June.
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