Turkish Police to Do Autopsy on Man Who Died during Protests

Turkish police said Saturday that an autopsy will be performed on the body of a man whose death the previous day the opposition has blamed on police use of tear gas.

Serdar Kadakal died on Friday in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, an area that this week become the center of anti-government protests and where riot police have been using tear gas for three consecutive nights to disperse demonstrators.

The opposition has claimed that the death of the 35-year-old sound technician who had a history of heart problems was caused by tear gas, a charge denied by the police.

"This person was not in an area where gas was used by our forces," the police said in a statement on its website. "An official autopsy will be performed to determine the circumstances of his death."

The death of another man, Ahmet Atakan, in clashes with the police in Antakya on Monday has led to a resurgence of unrest throughout Turkey.

The 22-year-old's family claim he was killed by a projectile fired by police, something denied by the minister of the interior, Muammer Guler.

Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the target of protests across Turkey, said that "any illegal action would be punished by law" in a speech in Turkey's southeast. "Nobody can disturb our peace," he said.

Erdogan on Thursday accused the Republican People's Party of being behind the renewed protests.