Turkish police have blocked senior Kurdish politicians from marching to a town under a week-long curfew.

Led by the co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Selahattin Demirtas, the group claim the government’s move has triggered a humanitarian crisis and that violence has claimed the lives of up to 30 people.

Cizre, near Turkey’s border with Syria and Iraq, has become a flashpoint in two months of deepening violence.

Hundreds have died since PKK militants and the state resumed hostilities following the collapse of a ceasefire in July.

Pro-Kurdish MPs say civilians in the town are in a dire situation, with the dead going unburied and food and water running short.

Critics have accused the ruling AK Party of using the bloodshed to whip up nationalist sentiment ahead of November’s election which both sides are now questioning whether a fair contest can take place.

Bahtiyar Küçük, euronews: “The peace process between the Turkish government and the PKK began two years ago and