Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

Lefteris Pitarakis

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

A woman chants slogans during the Newroz celebrations, marking the start of spring, in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Thousands celebrated the Newroz festival in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city in a region where Kurdish militants regularly clash with government forces. In Turkey, the spring festival traditionally serves as an occasion to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority and assert their ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Lefteris Pitarakis

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

Women chant slogans on stage during the Newroz celebrations, marking the start of spring, in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Thousands celebrated the Newroz festival in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city in a region where Kurdish militants regularly clash with government forces. In Turkey, the spring festival traditionally serves as an occasion to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority and assert their ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Lefteris Pitarakis

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

A man holds flares during the Newroz celebrations, marking the start of spring, in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Thousands celebrated the Newroz festival in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city in a region where Kurdish militants regularly clash with government forces. In Turkey, the spring festival traditionally serves as an occasion to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority and assert their ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Lefteris Pitarakis

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

Women celebrate on stage during the Newroz celebrations, marking the start of spring, in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Thousands celebrated the Newroz festival in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city in a region where Kurdish militants regularly clash with government forces. In Turkey, the spring festival traditionally serves as an occasion to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority and assert their ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Lefteris Pitarakis

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

Youth jump over a bonfire during the Newroz celebrations marking the start of spring, in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Thousands celebrated the Newroz festival in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city in a region where Kurdish militants regularly clash with government forces. In Turkey, the spring festival traditionally serves as an occasion to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority and assert their ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Lefteris Pitarakis

BC-AP News Digest 2 pm

Youth create a human tower during the Newroz celebrations, marking the start of spring, in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Thousands celebrated the Newroz festival in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city in a region where Kurdish militants regularly clash with government forces. In Turkey, the spring festival traditionally serves as an occasion to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority and assert their ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Lefteris Pitarakis

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

Lefteris Pitarakis

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

People dance during the Newroz celebrations, marking the start of spring, in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Thousands celebrated the Newroz festival in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city in a region where Kurdish militants regularly clash with government forces. In Turkey, the spring festival traditionally serves as an occasion to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority and assert their ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Lefteris Pitarakis

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

People gesture, during the Newroz celebrations, marking the start of spring, in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Thousands celebrated the Newroz festival in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city in a region where Kurdish militants regularly clash with government forces. In Turkey, the spring festival traditionally serves as an occasion to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority and assert their ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Lefteris Pitarakis

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival

People chant slogans during the Newroz celebrations, marking the start of spring, in Istanbul, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Thousands celebrated the Newroz festival in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city in a region where Kurdish militants regularly clash with government forces. In Turkey, the spring festival traditionally serves as an occasion to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority and assert their ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

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Posted: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 12:37 pm | Updated: 1:06 pm, Wed Mar 21, 2018.

Turkey: Dozens held during Kurdish spring festival Associated Press |

ISTANBUL (AP) — Police in Turkey have detained dozens of people for chanting slogans or unfurling banners in support of outlawed Kurdish rebels during celebrations marking the start of spring.

Festivities were held Wednesday in Istanbul, in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir and in several other towns and cities across Turkey, under tight security. Kurds traditionally use the March 21 festival, known as Newroz, to assert their ethnic identity and demand greater rights.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said 22 demonstrators were detained in Istanbul for alleged "propaganda" supporting the rebels and a Kurdish faction in Syria that Ankara also considers as terrorists.

At least 26 others were detained in Izmir and Adana, the agency reported. Police also broke up an unauthorized demonstration in the mainly Kurdish city of Batman.