Turkish forces besiege prison protesters

　　Security forces and leftist prisoners wielding make shift flame-throwers faced off for a third day in Turki sh jails on Thursday and government ministers urged the protesters to back down.

　　At least 19 people, 17 of them prisoners, have died in fiery protests since paramilitary police stormed 20 prisons on Tuesday to end a mass hunger strike against jail reform plans.

　　Two prisons remain to be subdued.

　　The violence has prompted concern in the European U nion, which Turkey wants to join, and sparked demonstra tions across Turkey and in European cities.

　　Witnesses said they heard gunshots from Istanbul's Umraniye prison as the siege continued there late on We dnesday. Security forces resumed their siege of Canakka le jail in western Turkey early on Thursday after suspe nding operations overnight to reduce the risk of furthe r loss of life.

　　"The convicts and detainees inside have to see thei r resistance leads nowhere. This resistance is meaningl ess and self-destructive and it has to stop," Justice M inister Hikmet Sami Turk said late on Wednesday in the capital Ankara.

　　The prisoners are protesting against plans to repla ce large dormitory wings with jails based on smaller ce lls. They say the new system will expose them to violen ce from jailers.

　　Turkish officials say extreme leftist groups are tr ying to preserve the power they enjoy in the dormitory system, under which prison officials patrol corridors a nd hallways but rarely enter dormitories that are effec tively run by inmates.

　　The Interior Ministry said security forces moving i n on Umraniye prison had been met with "flame-throwers made of kitchen gas canisters, petrol bombs, pipebombs and cutting, piercing weapons. "

　　In London, Kurdish protesters threatening to set th emselves on fire took over the giant London Eye Ferris wheel on the bank of the River Thames for five hours an d also occupied London offices of the European Commissi on.

　　A spokeswoman for the protesters said: "This is a d emonstration to show political prisoners in Turkey that we are with them and we will be with them to the end."