Scores held at Turkish protests

Protesters were arrested for holding marches at banned venues

Turkish police have detained about 150 people who tried to hold May Day marches at banned venues, a human rights organisation has said.

Most of the arrests were made in the regional capital of the mainly Kurdish south-east of the country, Diyarbakir.

Trade unions, political parties and human rights groups gathered in a central square instead of an approved location outside the city.

There were also arrests in the Istanbul.

People tried to mark the event in Taksim square, despite repeated warnings the location was off-limits.

One union leader told Turkish TV: "For every application we submitted so far for the May Day celebrations, we were shown either a meadow or a pit.

"We do not want to mark the day in a meadow. We want to mark the occasion at Taksim square."

The demonstrators shouted slogans against the imprisonment of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, an upcoming Nato summit and the US-led occupation of Iraq.

Turkish police have not yet announced the number of arrests.