by Our Foreign Desk

ANKARA blocked access to Twitter yesterday to prevent images of Monday’s bombing in Suruc that killed 32 people being broadcast.

The official Anadolou news agency said that authorities were also trying to block Twitter users from calling for protests against the government for not doing more to prevent the bombing.

Officials had speculated that the bombing was part of a campaign of retaliation by Islamic State (Isis) for a recent crackdown on its operations in Turkey.

More than 500 people suspected of working with Isis have been arrested in the last six months, according to government data.

Protests have erupted in Istanbul and other cities since the bombings, with demonstrators shouting slogans blaming the government for the attack.

Police detained 30 people on Tuesday before they could march to a local office in Istanbul of the ruling AKP party.

Protesters also threw fireworks as police officers attempted to disperse the crowd at another protest in the city.

A court in Suruc issued a ban earlier on the publication of images related to the bombing in the media, including the internet and social media platforms, ruling that access be barred to internet sites that do not comply with the ban.

A government official said that Ankara had asked Twitter to remove 107 URLs with images of the aftermath of the bombing.

Twitter had removed 50 of the URLs and was working to remove the remaining problematic URLs. Speedy removal would provide for access to be restored.