Kurds protest in Turkey over besieged Syrian town

At least nine people were killed in demonstrations across Turkey, local media reported, as Kurds demanded the government do more to protect the Syrian-Kurdish town of Kobane from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters who burnt cars and tires, as they took to the streets mainly in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish eastern and southeastern provinces late on Tuesday.

Clashes also erupted in the capital Ankara and in the country's biggest city, Istanbul, where almost 100 people were detained and 30 people were injured, including eight police officers, the Istanbul Governorship said in a news release early on Wednesday.

Five people were killed in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city in the southeast, which saw clashes between protesters and police.

A 25-year-old man died in Varto, a town in the eastern province of Mus, and at least half a dozen people were wounded there in clashes between police and protesters, local media reported.

Two people died in southeastern Siirt province and another died in neighboring Batman, according to media reports.

Authorities announced a curfew in Kurdish populated districts in Diyarbakir, Siirt and in the town of Van, where thousands of protesters rallied against the advance of ISIL on Kobane.

The weeks-long assault on Kobane has cost 400 lives, according to the monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the fight in Kobane against ISIL has become a rallying point for Turkey's Kurdish community, which sees Ankara as partly responsible for ISIL gaining power.

Elsewhere, about 50 demonstrators in Brussels forced their way into the European Parliament on Tuesday, part of the Europe-wide actions against the ISIL advance.

Once inside, some protesters were received by Parliament President Martin Schulz, who promised to discuss the Kurds' plight with NATO and EU leaders.

In Germany, home to Western Europe's largest Kurdish population, about 600 people demonstrated in Berlin on Tuesday, according to police. Hundreds demonstrated in other German cities. Austria, too, saw protests.

Kurds, who had peacefully occupied the Dutch Parliament for several hours Monday night, met Tuesday with legislators to press for more Dutch action against the insurgents, according to local media.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised in a speech last Wednesday that Turkey would fight ISIL and "other terrorist organizations."

The president's vow came a day before the Turkish Parliament granted the government authority to send forces into both Syria and Iraq.

The Turkish army, however, has so far not intervened in the heavy fighting across the border.

Turkey is not a part of the U.S.-led coalition acting against ISIL, but has sent tanks to border areas threatened by ISIL advances on Kobane. On Tuesday, Erdogan warned that Kobane was about to fall to ISIL.  

Kurdish forces have been trying to stop group's advance for weeks and Kurds on the Turkish side of the border have been furious about what they said was the Turkish government's lack of action. 

Turkey rejected the criticism. "It is a massive lie that Turkey is doing nothing on Kobani," Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said on Twitter. "Turkey is doing whatever can be done in humanitarian aspects." He used an alternative spelling for Kobane.

The Kurdish party had issued a statement saying: "The situation in Kobani is extremely critical. We call on our people to go out into the streets, or support those that have gone onto the streets, to protest the ISIL (Islamic State) attacks and the ... stance of (Turkey's) AKP government against Kobani."

Al Jazeera with wire services