PM's aide kicking protester stokes anger over Turkey mine fire

The incident occurred as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the western city of Soma a day after the devastating mine fire, CNN informs. The man, detained by special forces, can be seen lying on the ground as the suited adviser to Erdogan, identified as Yusuf Yerkel by Turkish media and CNN Turk, aims a kick at him. The shocking image outraged many in Turkey, prompting an outpouring of anger on social media, and is seen as symbolizing the increasingly polarizing impact of Erdogan's authority on the country. t's been nearly a year since anti-government protests first roiled Istanbul, prompting a response from authorities that was widely criticized as heavy-handed. Yerkel was quoted by Turkey's semi-official Anadolu news agency as saying that he had been deeply saddened by Wednesday's events. "I am sad that I could not keep my calm in the face of all the provocation, insults, and attacks that I was subjected to that day," he reportedly said. Besides the anger prompted by the photo, Erdogan's speech Wednesday to relatives of dead and injured miners was seen as insensitive and drew scathing criticism. As public anger mounted through the evening, hundreds took to the streets in anti-government protests in Istanbul and Ankara, with police answering, in some cases, with water cannons and tear gas. In Ankara, the nation's capital, some left black coffins in front of the Energy Ministry and the Labor and Social Security ministry buildings. Meanwhile, unions called for strikes across the country on Thursday. At the mine, where what has become more of a recovery effort than a rescue continued, the mood was sullen, but there was little sign of the burning anger seen elsewhere over the accident. Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the number of coal miners confirmed dead had risen by one to 283, as of Thursday evening. Three injured miners remain in the hospital, he said. The recovery operation is expected to continue overnight and into Friday. A 'sorrow for the whole Turkish nation' President Abdullah Gul offered words of comfort as he visited the western city, a day after his premier attracted public ire. The mine fire is a "sorrow for the whole Turkish nation," Gul told reporters, and he offered his condolences to the victims' families. Onlookers listened silently until a man interrupted Gul with shouts: "Please, President! Help us, please!" An investigation into the disaster has begun, Gul said, adding that he was sure this would "shed light" on what regulations are needed. "Whatever is necessary will be done," he said. He commended mining as a precious profession. "There's no doubt that mining and working ... to earn your bread underground perhaps is the most sacred" of undertakings, he told reporters. Gul had entered the mine site with an entourage of many dozens of people -- mostly men in dark suits -- walking through a crowd of rescue workers who were standing behind loosely assembled police barricades. Rescue and recovery workers retrieved more bodies Thursday from the still smoldering coal mine. Resignation marked the workers' faces after they had stood and sat outside the mine for hours, idle and waiting. Some of them passed the time talking on cell phones, others smoking or taking off their hard hats and burying their faces in their hands. With hope of finding survivors nearly gone, it appeared there was little they could do. Funerals amid grief Smoke and fumes are hindering efforts to reach more of those still missing below the surface and lessen the chances that any more will be found alive, even in special "safe" chambers equipped with oxygen and other supplies. Fourteen bodies were found in one such chamber. More than a day has passed since anyone was pulled out alive. Rescuers saved at least 88 miners in the frantic moments after a power transformer blew up Tuesday during a shift change at the mine, sparking a choking fire deep inside. Since then, the bodies of nearly 200 miners who were trapped in the burning shaft nearly a mile underground have been returned to their families.