Police detain 580 in Istanbul May Day protests

ISTANBUL, May 1 (Reuters) Turkish police today detained 580 people in Istanbul as they tried to protest on the May Day anniversary of a mass shooting 30 years ago, NTV television quoted city Governor Muammer Guler as saying.

Riot police clashed with protesters, firing tear gas and using water cannon.

The government will be watching to see whether an official May Day march in Istanbul later today turns into a protest against the ruling AK Party following a demonstration by up to a million people in the city on Sunday.

Sunday's marchers were demonstrating against the government's choice for president, accusing the AK Party of having a secret Islamist agenda.

Authorities have enforced a strict security clampdown in the centre of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city with 14 million inhabitants, to prevent May Day rallies which often attract tens of thousands of people and sometimes turn violent.

Some 17,000 police have been stationed across the city, CNN Turk television said. Metro stations, ferries and bus routes have been closed and travel across the Bosphorus straits that divides the city curtailed.

The clampdown caused traffic jams and forced the Istanbul stock exchange to start trading later than usual.

Guler was criticised for shutting down parts of the city.

Thirty years ago, 34 people were shot or trampled to death when an unidentified gunman opened fire on a May Day march in the city's Taksim square.

Authorities allowed a handful of union leaders to lay red carnations at the site of the killings. Later hundreds of people gathered at the square to protest before police moved in to make the arrests.

REUTERS KD KN1508