UPDATE - Gun battle breaks out at Istanbul courthouse

UPDATES WITH NUMBER OF ARRESTS, FURTHER DETAILS

By Muhammed Enes Can, Halil Demir, Abidin Mutlu Bozdag, Murat Kaya and Mustafa Hatipoglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Court staff and visitors dived for cover at one of Turkey’s largest courthouses on Thursday as a gun battle broke out between rival sides in a murder trial.

Anadolu Agency video footage from the incident at Istanbul’s Caglayan courthouse showed people ducking behind desks in the vast foyer.

Scuffles broke out outside the building in the Sisli district and police were seen making several arrests.

Police reinforcements rushed to the scene, which was sealed off as a helicopter hovered overhead.

Police later confirmed 20 people had been arrested and officers had confiscated a handgun. One man was taken to hospital. A child was also hospitalized although it was unclear if the child had suffered any physical injury.

A defendant in the murder case, identified as Kemal Gezer, was shot in the foot outside the courthouse. In footage, a police officer was seen helping apply a tourniquet to a wounded man.

Caglayan, one of the largest courts in Turkey, was at the center of a major incident in March 2015 when members of the leftist DHKP-C terror group killed prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz.

Kiraz, 46, was taken hostage in the complex and was shot dead after six hours of negotiations. The two hostage-takers, who released photographs of Kiraz with a handgun pointed at his head during the siege, were killed by security forces.