Turkey is bracing for the funeral of 15-year old Berkin Elvan.  His death this week, 269 days after being injured in Turkey’s unrest last June, reignited the anger against police and the authoritarian government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The boy's mother Gulsum Elvan told reporters outside the hospital that, “It’s not God who took my son away but Prime Minister Erdogan.”

Berkin was injured while walking to buy bread in Istanbul last June.  He was hit on the head by a tear gas canister at the height of the unrest.  Cops were questioned, but no charges were ever filed as Berkin lay in hospital in a coma.

News of the boy's death on Tuesday – now he eighth linked to last year's massive anti-Erdogan demonstrations – prompted thousands of people to take part in fresh protests across the country.  Police met the protests the same way they did last year: with violence, clubs, rubber bullets, and water cannons.  Human Rights Watch says that police violence against demonstrators was an “endemic problem” in Turkey.