Turkey official Yusuf Yerkel wins sick leave after miner-kicking incident
Aide to Turkish PM gets a week off after suffering injury to the leg used in incident
The Turkish prime ministerial aide photographed last week kicking a protester at the site of the country's worst mine disaster is on sick leave after being diagnosed with soft-tissue trauma in his right leg, which was the one he used on the demonstrator.
The photograph shows Yusuf Yerkel, an aide to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, clad in a suit and tie and furiously kicking a man held down by special police forces during anti-government protests in Soma last Wednesday. It went viral on social media.
Yerkel is reported to have been granted sick leave for a week.
A medical report issued at an Ankara hospital refers to "sensitivity with leg and arm movements and difficulty with walking", according to the Hurriyet daily newspaper.
He reportedly told doctors that he had fallen.
Yerkel refused to apologise to the protester immediately after the incident, arguing that he had been insulted and provoked by the man, who is said to be a miner from the stricken town.