Istanbul had its biggest demonstrations in recent years on Saturday (25 January) at the start of the funeral procession of a student shot dead on Thursday in a clash between left and right-wing students.

An estimated 80,000 people -- mostly students and trade unionists -- filed through the streets of Istanbul behind the coffin of 22-year-old Kerim Yaman from Istanbul University to a ferry-boat station. The body was shipped to his home at Manisa, near Izmir.

Yaman was killed during a clash at an engineering and technical college. Eight others were seriously injured.

Leftists later snatched his body from the city morgue and displayed it on a makeshift bier after occupying the main building of Istanbul University.

At Istanbul University on Saturday, hundreds of students paid their last respects to a comrade, Kerim Yaman, who was killed in a clash in between left and right-wing groups. Eight other students were seriously injured during the incident at an engineering and technical college.

Left-wing students snatched the body of twenty-two-years-old Yaman from a city mortuary on Thursday. The corpse was displayed on a makeshift bier in the main building of the University, while hundreds of students patrolled the campus. Only sympathisers were allowed in.

Yaman's mother (walking beside the coffin) came from their home in Manisa, about two hundred miles south west of Istanbul, to accompany her son's coffin back for burial.

It was estimated that about eighty thousand people -- mostly trade unionists and students -- followed the coffin through the streets to a ferry boat station where the body was shipped to Manisa.

It was the biggest demonstration in recent years in Istanbul. Police sources said all police leave was cancelled for the day, following intelligence reports that rightists planned to attack the cortege, but no incidents were reported.

On the same day in Ankara, several hundred students held a demonstration in sympathy with the Istanbul marchers. There were no clashes. Meanwhile, an official announcement said Istanbul University would be closed down indefinitely.