Damage on Turkish streets exceeds $40 mln, says Interior Minister

In a parliamentary debate in Ankara, Interior Minister Muammer Guler said the protests had caused 70 million lira (about 40 million dollars) worth of damage, news channel NTV reported.

Shops were shuttered on a main avenue leading to Taksim Square, as thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-government slogans marched by for a fifth day. Barricades of rubble blocked other streets leading to the square and the acrid smell of tear gas hung in the air.

A 22-year-old member of the main opposition youth wing was killed after being hit in the head at a rally in the southern town of Antakya near the Syrian border late on Monday, the second death after a taxi hit a protester in Istanbul on Sunday.

A rally for the Antakya victim, whom medics said appeared to have been hit by a gas canister, was planned later in Ankara.
Four other people were in a critical condition, the Turkish Doctors' Association said, while around 3,000 had suffered light injuries such as breathing difficulties or minor lacerations.

Turkey's deputy prime ministerapologized on Tuesday for "excessive violence" by police in an effort to defuse days of unrest, comments which contrasted sharply with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's defiant dismissal of the protesters.