Police confront second day of anti-IMF protest in Istanbul

A week of International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings attracting finance ministers and central bankers from around the globe in Istanbul, ended on Wednesday. Outside the conference hall, Turkish police fired tear gas and used water cannon for a second day to break up protests against the IMF and World Bank, a witness said. Several hundred protesters, students and members of Turkish unions and left-wing political parties, clashed with riot police a few hundred metres from the IMF-World Bank semi-annual meetings. Several youths threw stones at police before riot police moved in to break up the protests. Police detained several people. There is significant opposition among Turkish students to the IMF. Turkey and the IMF are negotiating a possible new loan agreement after the last one expired more than a year ago.