Turkey: Police officer pulls out gun to intimidate reporter, threatens to shoot

A Turkish undercover police officer was recorded in an attempt to pull out his gun on a reporter in Turkey's Kurdish-majority city of Van on Thursday. The police officer tried to intimidate the reporter by brandishing his gun, and threatened to shoot, Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) said.

The incident occurred during a peace demonstration led by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), as the reporters were taking images of the marching crowd.

The police moved against the reporters to prevent them from reporting, and one of the reporters, Mesut Bagci, was pushed to the ground by some police officers who shattered his camera.

Another police officer, who identified himself working for the counter terrorism bureau, threatened to shoot MA reporter Berivan Kutlu and JinNews reporter Zelal Tunc, according to MA's report. He allegedly yelled at the reporters, "I'll shoot you and no one will find your remains."

The same police officer brandished his gun to intimidate JinNews reporter Elfazi Toral, and the instant was recorded in camera.

MA also said that the police later called some reporters in the city and threatened them not to publicize any of the images involving police officers.